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Photographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  NY.  14580 

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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHIVI/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions 


Institut  Canadian  de  micrortproductions  historiques 


1980 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


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une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  m6thode  normale  de  filmage 
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D 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommagde 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
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n    Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommag^es 

n    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaur^es  et/ou  pelliculdes 


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D 
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n 

D 
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Cover  title  missing/ 

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V 


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y 


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Ce  document  est  film6  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqud  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

21K 

26X 

aox 

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12X 


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32X 


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B  du 

lodifier 
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Image 


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Mount  Allison  University 


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conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 


>s 


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The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  —^-  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED "),  or  the  symbol  7  (meaning  "END  "), 
whichever  applies. 


Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimAe  sont  film6s  en  commenp ant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
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(''impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  —^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Tho^e  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc    peuvent  Atre 
filmAs  A  des  taux  de  reduction  diffdrents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clichA,  il  est  filmA  A  partir 
de  Tangle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


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6 

WHERE  ARE  WE  AND  WHITHER  TENDING? 


THREE    LECTURES 


ON    TBI 


REALITY  AND  WORTH  OF  HUMAN 

PROGRESS. 


BY 

THE    REV.  M.  HARVEY, 

Author   of  "  Newfoundland,  — the    Oldest   British    Colony";   "Lecture*,   Literary  and 

Biographical";    Articles  "Newfoundland"   and    "Labrador"   in   the 

Encyclopadia  Britannica;   "  Tert-Book  of  Newfoundland 

History,"  etc. 


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BOSTON: 
DOYLE    AND    WHITTLE. 

1886. 


Copyright,  1886, 

bt  doylk  and  whittle. 


All  rights  reserved. 


PreB»  of  Kockwell  and  Churcblll,  39  Arch  Htreet,  Boston. 


PREFACE. 


;0  most  thoughtful  minds  the  reality  of  human  prog- 
ress is  a  subject  profoundly  interesting.  At  the  present 
time  this  problem  lias  especial  attractions  because  it  is 
felt  that  it  underlies  many  of  the  great  questions  regard- 
ing humanity  wliieh  r  ^upy  the  mind  of  the  age.  If  human  prog- 
ress be  real  and  possessed  of  substantial  value,  and  if  it  can  be 
shown  to  be  continuous,  then  light  is  thrown  on  many  dark  points 
in  the  problem  of  existence.  If  humanity  has  been  advancing  in 
the  past  and  is  still  gaining  loftier  heights,  and  if  an  all-pervad- 
ing law  of  progress  be  discernible,  then  life  has  a  meaning,  and 
is  the  development  of  a  divine  purpose  working  towards  an  exalted 
end.  Notwithstanding  present  imperfections,  if  we  are  really  ad- 
vancing, liowever  slowly,  towards  a  better  condition,  even  though 
it  should  not  be  one  of  absolute  perfection,  life  has  then  a  noble 
purpose,  and  presents  a  great  hope  to  animate  human  endeavor. 

It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  progress  presents  a  most 
complicated  problem,  and  one  which  is  far  from  being  so  easily 
solved  as  some  enthusiastic  optimists  seem  to  Ihink.  It  is,  in  fact, 
a  question  encompassed  with  doubts  and  difHculties.  That  progress 
is  slow  and  often  wavering  ;  that  it  has  been  accomplished  through 
conflict,  pain,  and  terrible  sacrifices;  that  it  has  licen  attended  with 
drawbacks  and  disappointments ;  that,  even  at  the  present  day, 
it  is  the  exception,  and  not  the  rule  ;  and  that  vast  masses  of  man- 
kind are  living  in  a  state  of  contented  ignorance  and  stagnation,  — 
all  this  must  be  fully  admitted.  The  pessimist  can  readily  find  a 
certain  justification  of  his  views  iu  the  many  dark  and  discouraging 
facts  of  human  existence. 

Still,  I  believe  there  are  ample  grounds  for  holding  human 
progress  to  be  a  grand  reality.     In  Ibis  little  work  I  have  eu- 


PREFACE. 


I 


(leavored  to  show  that  it  is  verifiable,  and  that  ntjodorn  scienco 
furnishes  a  basis  on  which  a  belief  in  its  value  and  reality  may 
safely  rest.  The  diflleulties  and  objections  suggested  by  pessi- 
mists are  freely  stated,  for  wo  cannot  reach  safe  conclusions  by 
ignoring  these.  I  have  rested  a  belief  in  the  reality  of  progress 
on  the  slow  and  gradual  accretions  of  good  which  the  past  has 
witnessed,  and  the  steady  diminution  of  evil  which  is  also  clearly 
discernible.  The  investigations  of  science  show  that  these  gradual 
ameliorations  are  the  outcome  of  that  wondrous  evolution  of  life 
on  tiie  globe  which  is  ever  attended  witli  more  complicated  and 
higher  results,  though  involving  much  tiitit  is  to  us  darli  and  in- 
explicable. 

In  tiiis  brief  discussion  of  the  question  I  have  retained  the  form 
of  lectures,  the  substance  of  the  whole  having  been  originally 
delivered  as  an  Athenajum  K'ctiu'e  before  a  popular  audience. 
For  Ibis  the  high  authority  of  F.  Max  Miiller  may  be  cited,  who 
says,  in  his  preface  to  "  India — What  Can  it  Teach  Us?  "  :  "I  am 
fond  of  the  form  of  lectures,  because  it  seems  to  mo  the  most 
natural  form  which  in  our  age  didactic  composition  ought  to  take. 
As  in  ancient  Greece  the  dialo:j;ue  reflected  most  truly  the  intel- 
lectual life  of  the  peoi)le,  and  as  :n  the  Middle  Ages  learned 
literature  naturally  assumed  witii  the  recluse  in  his  monastic  cell 
the  form  of  a  long  monologue,  so  with  us  the  lecture  places  the 
writer  most  readily  in  tliat  position  in  which  he  is  accustomed  to 
deal  with  his  fellow-men,  and  to  communicate  his  knowledge  to 
others  It  has,  no  doubt,  certain  disadvantages.  In  a  lecture 
which  is  meant  to  be  didactic,  we  have,  for  the  sake  of  complete- 
ness, to  say  and  to  repeat  certain  things  which  must  be  familiar  to 
some  of  our  readers,  while  we  are  also  forced  to  leave  out  informa- 
tion which,  even  in  its  imperfect  form,  we  should  probably  not 
hesitate  to  submit  to  our  fellow-sludents,  but  which  we  feel  we 
have  not  yet  sufliciently  mastered  and  matured  to  enable  us  to 
place  it  clearly  and  simply  before  a  larger  public.  But  the 
advantages  outweigh  the  disadvantages." 

M.  H. 

St.  John's,  Newfoundland,  December,  1885. 


CONTENTS 


LECTLKE   FIRST. 


PAOI 


The  Question  stated :  Is  Man  Uetrof^radinu,  Stationary,  or  Projjressing?  — 
Argument  in  Favor  of  Human  Proijress. — lleneflts  of  Steam 
and  Electricity.  —  Splendid  Achicvoments  of  Science. — Their 
Bearing  on  Progress.  —  Advances  in  Art,  Literature,  and  Moral- 
ity. —  Objections  to  the  Doctrine  of  Progress.  —  Pauperism.  — 
The  Milifary  System.  — War.  — Antagonism  of  Capital  and  Labor. 

—  Disease,  etc.  —  Drawbacks  of  Civilization.  —  The  Blind,  De- 
structive Forces  of  Nature  at  Work.  —  The  Dark  Side  of  Nature.  — 
Uses  of  Pessimism. — Its  View  Imperfect.  —  Magnificent  Results 
of  Science.  —  Its  Beneficent  Tendency.  —  Its  Future  Prospects 
and  Possible  Benefits.  —  The  Pessimist's  Reply  to  the  Boasts  of 
Science. —  Achievements  of  the  Ancients  and  Moderns  Compared. 

—  Egypt,  Babylon,  Tyre,  Etruria,  Baalbec,  Rome. — The  New 
World.  —  Easter  Island. — Central  America.  —  Mexico,  Peru. — 
The  Mound-Builders.  —  Ancient  and  Modern  Literature.  —  Man- 
kind not  More  Moral  or  Happier  than  of  Old.  —  Motlern  Civiliza- 
tion Doomed  to  Perish.  — Review  of  the  Pessimist's  Argument.  — 
Intellectual  Man  existed  Early. — Ancient  and  Modern  Civiliza- 
tions Contrasted.  —  Human  Progress  a  Slow  and  Painful  Process, 
but  Real 


LECTURE    SECOND. 

Man's  Earthly  Destiny  Enveloped  in  Shadows,  but  Lighted  with  Qlcams 
of  Hope. — Slow  Development  through  Conflict  and  I'ain.  —  The 
Death  of  the  Weakest. — Tiie  Life  of  the  Strongest. — Waste  of 
Life.  —  Prevalence  of  Suffering. — The  Difllculty  and  Sadness  of 
Existence.  —  The  Mystery  of  it  all,  but  a  Progressive  Plan  Evi- 
dent.—  Higher  and  Nobler  Types  following  each  Other. — Evil 
Diminishing. — Good  Increasing. — Development  in  Accordance 
with  Unswerving  Law  the  Great  Idea  of  the  Age. — The  Great 
Question,   How    things    came   to    be  as    they    are?  —  A    Divine 


CONTENTS. 


PAoa 


IntcUiffpnco  (n>><ling  all.  — Tho  Theory  of  Kvoltition.  —  Not  Atiu'- 
istic. — Noble  cnrlii  proposed  and  accompliHht'd  Iil  Creation. — 
Tho  Moans  SceminRly  HarRh. — Uesu'.tit  Infinitely  Precious. — 
The  Evolutionist's  Credo.  —  "Some  Soul  of  Goodness  in  Tliinj^^ 
Evil."  —  Illustrations.  —  Laws  of  Heredity.  —  Love,  I'ity,  Com- 
passion Born  of  Humanity.  — Goodness  an  Increasing;  Quantity.  — 
Slowness  of  Projjress.  — The  Yoke  of  Custom.  —  "  Survivals  "  and 
Revivals.  —  Each  new  Truth  a  Centre  of  Influence.  —  Optimism 
and  Pessimism  to  be  Discarded.  —  Meliorism  Accepted.  —  Extrav- 
agant Dreams  Deprecated.  —  Great  Men.  —  The  Part  they  Play  in 
Progresb 48 


LECTURE    THIRD. 

Tho  Question  of  the  Amelioration  of  the  Working-classes.  —  Giffen's 
Statistics.  —  Maeaulay's  Views  on  Progress. — His  Predictions 
Fulfilled.  —  Improvements  in  Feeling  and  Character.  —  Redun- 
dancy of  Population  ConsMlored. — Malthus'  Views. — W.  R. 
Gregg  and  liagehot  quoted.  —  Increase  of  Population  can  be  Con- 
trolled as  Civilization  Advances,  —  Power  of  Man  over  the  Im- 
provement of  his  Race. — Galton  quoted.  —  Possible  Increase  of 
Great  Men. — German  Pessimism. — Causes  of  Prevailing  Pessi- 
mistic Views  of  Life.  —  Their  Justification.  —  Their  Imperfection. 
—  Christianity  the  Great  Factor  in  Human  Progress.  —  Still  the  Hope 
of  the  World.  —  Christianity  a  Progressive  Religion. — Its  Spirit 
Lives,  its  Forms  Change. — -Dread  of  Innovations.  —  Is  Christian- 
ity in  Danger  from  Scientific  Discoveries?  —  The  Lessons  of  the 
Past. — The  Theory  of  Creation  by  Law  not  Irreligious. — Scien- 
tific Truth  nut  to  be  Dreaded 


63 


APPENDICES. 

No.      I.  Opinions  of  Eminent  Theologians  who  accept  Evolution        .     119 

No.    II.  Progress  and  "  The  Survival  of  the  Fittest "  .        .        .        .125 

No.  III.  Aspects  of  Pessimism 127 

No.    IV.  The  Poet  Laureate's  new  Poem 130 


WHERE  ARE  WE  AND  WHITHER  TENDING? 


LECTURE    I. 


Tlin  Question  statpil :  Is  Man  lU'tro^'nidinj?,  Stutionnry,  or  Progressinjr  ? —  Ar^nimpnt 
ill  Kuvor  of  Iliinmn  I*i()i;rcss.  —  liiMiotits  of  .Steuin  nnd  Klcctricily.  —  .Splendid 
Aniiicvcmcnts  of  .Science.  —  Tlieir  Ilciirin;;  on  I'ro^'rexs. —  Adviinccs  in  Art,  \A\- 
rmtiirc,  and  Morality.  —  Olijcctions  to  the  Doctrine  of  I'roj^ress.  — I'luiporinm.  — 
The  Military  .System.  —  War.  —  Antii^ronisni  oft'apitiil  and  I.alxir.  —  I)isensc,  et<'. 

—  Drawbacks  of  Civilization.  —  The  Illind,  Destructive  I'dree-i  of  Nature  at  Work. 

—  The  Dark  Side  of  Nature.  —  Uses  of  lVs>*iniisni.  —  Its  View  Iin(K;rfeet.  —  Ma;;- 
niflccnt  Uesiilts  of  .Scienee. —  Its  IJenelicent  T-Mulency.  —  lis  Future  Prospects 
nnd  I'ossible  Ikncfits,  —  The  Pessimist's  Reply  to  the  Boosts  of  .Science. — 
.Vehievemcnts  of  the  Ancients  and  Moderns  t'ompai-cd. —  Kiryjit,  liabrlon.  Tyre, 
Kti'uria,  Itaalbec,  Home.  —  Tlie  New  World.  —  I'^astcr  Island.  —  Ccnli-ul  America. 

—  Mexico,  Peru.  —  The  Mound-Huildcrs.  —  Ancient  and  Modern  Literature. — 
Mankind  not  More  Moral  or  Happier  than  of  Old.  —  Modern  Civilization  Doomed 
to  Perish.  —  llevicw  of  the  Pessimist's  Ar;,'unient.  —  Intellectual  Man  cxistcil 
Karly.  —  Ancient  and  Modern  Civilizations  Conti-asted.  —  Human  PiT><;re8s  a 
Slow  and  Puiuful  Process,  but  Ileal. 


N  tlie  following  IcctiiiTs  I  pr()[)o.so  to  discuss  hriofly  the 
question,  Where  are  we,  of  the  present  generation,  in 
the  great  historic  march  of  mankind,  and  whither  does 
the  host,  of  which  we  are  a  part,  seem  to  he  tending? 
Are  wc  really  a  conquering,  advancing  army,  with 
victorious  banners  floating  over  us,  with  fresh  triinnphs 
awaiting  us ;  and  if  so,  how  far  have  we  scaled  the 
lieights,  and  wh.'it  are  the  residts  of  the  onward  move- 
ment? Or  are  we,  after  all,  only  fragments  of  a  hroken, 
discomfited  host,  fighting  desperately  but  hopelessly  in  a 
retreat,  our  lines  in  disorder,  our  banners  torn  and  tramjded  in 
the  dust,  — no  victories  awaiting  us,  but  only  shame  and  fresh 
defeats?  Has  the  course  of  humanity,  since  it  started  in  the 
far  East,  long  before  the  dawn  of  history,  been,  on  the  whole, 
progressive  or  retrogressive,  or,  like  the  swing  of  the  pen- 
dulum, constantly  traversing  the  same  arc  of  a  circle,  always  in 


H 


WHERE  A  HE    WE  AM)    WHITHER    TEXniSdt 


motion  without  inukiii^  any  adviinco?  After  all  the  toilt),  ttor- 
rowM,  and  conHictM  of  liutnanity,  have  wo  now  any  8oIi(l  gain8 
to  nIiow  in  regard  to  what  cotiHtitittcs  the  grand  essentialn  of 
e.\irtten(!L'?  Are  we  heconiing  rieher  in  mind  ami  heart,  in 
vvi^4dom  and  true  goodness,  as  the  ages  roll  along?  Is  human 
life  growitig  more  heautifid  and  preeious  with  loftier  aims  and 
widening  ideals?  Is  tlu;  little  aggregate  ol'  atoms  we  eidl 
earth  advuiM'ing  towards  a  maturity,  and  are  its  denizens  tend- 
ing towards  higher  levels  in  virtue  and  hapfjiness?  Or  is  our 
hoasted  progress  a  fon<l  delusion,  and  the  golden  goal,  away  in 
th(;  dim  distance,  a  dream  of  the  imagination?  Is  this  human 
life,  with  its  petty  cares  and  ignoble  strifes  and  toils,  just  the 
same  mean,  (!ontemptil)lc  thing  as  ever,  a  wretched  little  gasp 
"from  a  spoonful  of  pap  to  n  mouthful  of  dust,"  — 

"A  life  of  noUiings,  nothing  worth, 
From  that  first  nothing  ore  our  birth, 
To  the  lust  nothing  under  eartii." 

Is  the  gloomy  pessimist  right  after  all  in  pronouncing  the 
world  a  gigantic;  failure,  man  a  stupendous  disappointinent,  our 
civilization  merely  a  varnish  which  hides  the  ever-gnawing 
wretchedness  within,  so  that  the  sooner  our  planet,  with  all  its 
living  freight,  rushes  back  to  the  great  central  furnace,  the  sun, 
and  becomes  fire-mist  once  more,  the  better  for  all  concerned? 

These,  no  doubt,  are  questions  which  open  up  wide  ranges 
of  thought,  and  can  receive  but  brief  and  imperfiect  treatment 
here.  Indeed,  at  the  first  glance,  it  nmst  be  confessed  that 
such  questions  seem  rather  preposterous,  if  not  insulting 
to  the  intelligence  of  our  nineteenth  century.  For  have 
not  we,  of  the  present  generation,  reached  a  vantage-groimd 
from  which  we  can  afi'ord  to  look  back  with  pity,  if  not 
scorn,  upon  those  who  have  gone  before  us?  Our  thousands 
of  miles  of  railway  alone,  now  covering  the  world  with  a 
great  net-work,  and  uniting  all  nations  with  iron  bands,  place 
us  immeasurably  in  advance  of  any  preceding  age.  Space 
and  time  are  practically  annihil.ated  by  the  electric  telegraph. 
By  means  of  our  steamships  —  well  named  "  floating  palaces  " 


WUERE  ARE    WE  AND    WIIITUER    TEXDlNOf 


1) 


—  ril)lMMl  with  gtoel  niid  lighted  hy  »l('«tri<'ity»  wo  hiivc^  t'on- 
vortcd  the  oceiUH  into  men;  lorries.  Kh'ctrieity  not  only  lights 
our  HtrcetH  uiid  houHCs,  hut,  hy  Htora;;e,  hccoincH  our  (hnnestic, 
nhive,  works  our  Hewin<^-iniichit>cM  und  cleans  our  hoots,  nnd 
promises  to  heeonic  the;  {^reiit  motor  of  the  tuturc.  Listen  to 
the  roar  of  our  machinery  as  it  ceasch'ssly  turns  out  nil  that 
minister  to  hutnan  wants,  nnd  |>la(*es  within  reach  of  the  poor- 
(>st  comforts  nnd  luxuries  which  noliles  could  nut  once  com- 
mand. The  ;;reat  carrier,  steam,  takes  up  the  harvests  of  the 
far  West  of  America,  and  distrihutes  them  over  Kurope  swiltly 
nnd  cheaply.  All  the  rouj^'h  w«)rk  of  the  worhl  will  noon  he 
performed  hy  the  same  miirhty  a<;cnt,  and  human  toil  immensely 
lessened.  Consider  the  achievements  of  the  printin;^-|)rcss,  in 
difi'usinj^  knowledge  and  (piiekening  thought  among  all  classes. 
By  our  world-emhra  ing  commerce  the  products  of  all  countries 
are  exchanged,  and  thus  human  life  is  enriched  and  heautified. 
"Where  are  we,  then?''  AVhy,  of  course,  "  in  the  foremost 
files  of  time."  We  are  mastering  the  great  forces  of  nature 
nnd  chaining  them,  as  humhle  slaves,  at  our  triumphant  chariot- 
wheels.  We  elude  or  disarm  inanv  of  the  destructive!  a'jr*'n<'it-S 
around  us  which  once  wrought  such  havcu;  among  our  ranks  ; 
and  om*  extending  knowledge  of  Nature's  laws  hriugs  within  a 
measurahle  distance  the  era  when  "  there  shall  he  nothing  to 
hurt  or  destroy,"  and  man  shall  he  completely  adjusted  to  his 
environment.  Kead  Sir  John  Luhhock's  "  Fifty  Years  of  Sci- 
ence," and  learn  what  keen-eyed  Science  has  done  a. id  promises 
to  achieve.  With  patient,  courageous,  and  not  irreverent  de- 
meanor Seienci'  is  now  searching  all  things  in  the  heavens  ahove 
and  in  the  earth  beneath.  She  gauges  the  galaxies;  analyzes 
the  nebula),  those  films  of  light  on  the  outskirts  of  creation 
which  arc  slowly  curdling  into  worlds,  and  hy  her  spectroscope 
reveals  the  constitution  of  the  sun  and  stars.  At  the  other  end 
of  the  scale,  by  the  micr«)scope,  she  measures  the  atoms  and 
molecules  out  of  which  the  Creator  has  constructed  the  uni- 
verse, and  brings  them  under  the  dominion  of  mathematical 
laws.  She  has  penetrated  many  wf  the  secrets  of  light,  heat, 
and  electricity,  and  proved  that  force,  as  well  as  matter,  is  inde- 


10 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHIT  HER   TENDING  f 


structiblo  ;  thus  reaching  tho  \i\\\  of  tlio  conservation  of  energy, 
—  one  of  the  grandest  generalizations  of  the  human  mind. 
The  h)fty  aim  of  our  modern  science  is  to  answer  the  questions, 
Ilow  things  came  to  be  as  they  arc.  What  is  the  order  of  nature, 
and  What  the  causes  of  appearances  ?  Andah'cady  marvellous 
arc  her  achievements.  The  geologist  Avill  take  up  a  bit  of  gran- 
ite, chalk,  or  coal,  and  trace  out  for  you  its  history,  through 
the  {Tons  of  the  past,  whose  records  are  engraved  in  the  solid 
rocks,  and  in  the  strange  vegetable  and  aniiral  forms  of  pre- 
ceding worlds  entombed  beneath  our  feet. 

The  researches  associated  with  the  great  name  of  Darwin 
have  revolutionized  our  views  of  nature,  by  linking  all  animated 
existences  in  one  vast  chain,  their  bond  of  union  being  com- 
munity of  descent.  Man  himself  is  but  the  topmost  branch  of 
the  genealogical  tree  whose  roots  arc  found  among  the  earliest 
traces  of  life  on  our  globe.  From  a  few  simple,  primeval 
forms,  as  Evolution  shows,  all  the  varied  and  complicated  vege- 
table and  animal  existences  have  been  developed  through  the 
ages  of  the  past.  This  is  what  the  piercing  eye  of  Science  has 
disclosed,  showing  us  nature  as  one  great  whole,  —  one  beauti- 
ful cosmos.  But  Science  is  beneficent  as  well  as  prying.  She 
is  teaching  man  to  dread  no  facts  or  realities  of  existence,  but 
to  love  all  truth  for  its  own  sake,  and  search  for  it  "as  for 
hidden  treasure."  She  is  delivering  man  from  that  dread  of 
nature,  —  that  terror  of  the  imknown,  which  marked  his  earlier 
history,  and  which  became  the  fruitful  parent  of  superstition, 
with  all  its  baleful  brood.  She  teaches  him  that  if  brave  and 
patient  in  the  investigation  of  physical  facts,  he  will  discover 
everywhere  the  permanence  of  imswerving  law  and  the  beauty 
of  order,  and  that  these  laws,  intelligently  apprehended  and 
obeyed,  will  secure  his  well-being,  and  guard  him  from  a  thou- 
sand evils. 

The  positive  gains  from  science  are  patent  and  verifiable.  It 
is  at  this  r;ioment,  througli  its  discoveries,  furnishing  employ- 
ment and  food  to  millions,  and  every  year  adding  enormously 
to  the  world's  wealth.  In  the  detection  of  the  causes  of  disease 
and  the  discovery  of  their  remedies  and  alleviations  it  has  done 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDING  f 


11 


much  to  lessen  human  sufferings.  In  the  one  gift  of  chloroform 
it  has  bestowed  a  priceless  boon  on  humanity.  In  tracing  the 
laws  of  heredity  and  the  conditions  of  health  it  has  pointed 
out  the  way  to  secure  "a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body,"  thus 
helping  man  to  become  more  and  more  master  of  his  own 
destiny.  It  has  severed  the  ciiains  of  a  thousand  errors  with 
which  ignorance  had  bound  us,  and,  by  giving  freedom  to  the 
intellect,  has  secured  boundless  possibilities  of  advance. 

Nor  is  it  in  science  alone  that  progress  is  discernible.  There 
is  an  advance  all  along  the  line.  Look  at  the  vast  accumulated 
stores  of  our  literature,  and  the  healthful  intluence  it  is  exert- 
ing. Never  before  was  it  so  pure,  and  animated  by  such  lofty 
aims.  The  same  is  true  of  art  in  its  grand  advances.  Con- 
sider, too,  the  ameliorations  wrought  out,  during  the  last  fifty 
years,  by  legislation  :  how  rauny  class  privileges  and  selfish 
monopolies  have  been  abolished  ;  what  wrongs  redressed  ;  what 
grievances  swept  away ;  what  sliamcful  tyrannies  and  cruel 
enactments  removed.  The  interests  of  the  masses,  the  good  of 
the  whole,  arc  now,  at  least  professedly,  paramount  considera- 
tions in  legislation.  In  fact,  when  we  consider  not  only  the 
broad  advances  of  material  civilization,  but  the  onward  sweep 
of  intellectual  and  moral  good,  have  not  we,  of  the  present 
time,  reason  for  self-congratulation,  and  for  pronouncing  our 
mother-age  the  brightest  an!  noblest  of  all  its  predecessors? 
Surely  it  is  the  most  glorious  birth  of  time  ;  the  bearer  of  a 
new  Apocalypse ;  the  li-'Toinger  of  the  new  era  of  peace  and 
happiness.     Its  watchword  is  ;  — 


"  Lot  in  light,  the  holy  light,  — 
Brothers,  fuar  it  never; 
Darkness  smiles  and  wrong  grows  right,  — 
Let  in  light  forever." 

Such  is  the  prean  we  often  hear  chanted  in  these  days  by  the 
enthusiastic  champions  of  progress,  —  tlic  brave  optimistic 
eingers  of  ''  the  good  time  coming."  Though  there  may  be  a 
touch  of  exagjjeration  and  sentimentalism,  and  a  strain  of 
unreasoned  hopefulness  in  their  utterances,  it  must  be  allowed 


12 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDING? 


that  their  case  ia  a  good  one,  and  that  their  song  of  triumph 
has  a  certain  amount  of  justification  in  fact.  But  I  can  easily 
conceive  a  cool,  matter-of-fact,  unimaginative  individual, 
with  a  tinge  of  cynical  pessimism  in  his  composition,  rising 
and  making  a  weighty  rejoinder  to  all  this  niuetecnth-century 
self-glorification.  We  can  fancy  him  pouring  forth  his  oration 
something  after  this  fashion :  "  My  imaginative,  progressive 
friends,  scientific  and  sentimental,  permit  me  to  point  out  that 
you  have  reached  your  pleasant  conclusions  about  the  wonder- 
ful advance  of  the  human  race  Gy^iuFtlng  your  eyes  to  all  that 
'Tiiilltates  against  your  theory,  and  ignoring  all  the  disagreeable 
facts  connected  with  man's  present  position  on  earth.  You 
boast  of  the  increase  of  Icnowledge,  the  grandeur  of  scientific 
discoveries,  and  the  advance  of  mankind  in  comfort,  peace,  and 
happiness  ;  and  you  draw  a  charming  picture  of  the  blessings 
of  civilization.  I  do  not  altogether  disjnite  your  statements  ; 
but,  by  overlooking  all  the  foul  blots  of  modern  civilization, 
and  blinding  j'ourselves  to  the  dark  background  of  the  i)icture, 
you  have  })roduced  a  ia|se  inij)rc8s^ion,  and  your  conclusions 
regarding  ])rogres8  are  vitiated.  You  fail,  for  example,  to 
take  account  of  that  cancerous  ulcer  called  pauperism,  which  is 
to-day  eating  into  the  very  vitals  of  the  social  body.  In  every 
European  community  it  is  at  work  ;  it  is  the  despair  of  politi- 
cal economists,  the  terror  of  statesmen,  the  perplexity  of 
social  science.  '  What  to  do  with  our  paupers,'  is  the  despair- 
ing cry  amiil  all  the  glitter  and  pomp  of  increasing  wealth. 
In  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  alone  this  huge,  hungry  pau- 
perism  numbers  one  million  of  human  beings,  deei)-sunk  in 
ignorance  and  wretchedness  ;  without  guidance  or  Tiope  ;  in- 
capable and  helpless  ;  adding  to  the  population  but  detracting 
from  its  strength,  and  barely  kept  from  starvation  or  rebellion 
by  the  expedient  of  a  poor-law.  The  cost  of  their  mainten- 
ance is  ten  millions  annuallv.  TThat  an  ufflv  blotch  is  this  on 
your  boasted  civilization  !  What  a  frightful  spectre  generated 
in  '^>  oul  swau»ps  ot  humanity  I  This  host  of  paupers  is  ever 
swelling  its  ranks,  and  like  a  column  of  locusts  it  advances  and 
deepens  year  by  year,  in  spite  of  the  enormous  increase  of 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WIIITnER    TENDING  f 


13 


wealth.  Pauperism  is  no  mere  accident :  it  is  the  inscjiarable 
shadow  of  civilization.  It  is  becominj^  rampant  in  the  New 
World  as  well  as  in  the  Old,  and  must  l)c  regarded  as  a  necee- 
Bary  product  of  your  so-called  profj^rcss. 

"Then,"  continues  the  speaker,  " let  me  further  point  out  to 
our  enthusiastic  progressionists  the  millions  of  men  and  women 
who,  by  hard  struggles,  are  just  able  to  keep  out  of  the  mael- 
strom of  pauperism,  but  for  most  of  whom  life  has  little  joy  or 
hope,  — the  pale  factory -workers,  the  distressed  needle-women, 
the  laborers,  rural  and  urban,  asking  for  leave  to  toil,  and 
often  asking  in  vain.  Consider  how  vast  multitudes  of  the  poor 
are  housed  in  the  great  cities  of  the  Old  World.  They  are 
living  in  the  foulest  conditions,  under  which  no  purity  or 
decency  could  grow  up ;  the  air  they  breathe  poisonous  ;  pure 
water  unknown  ;  the  light  of  heaven  shut  out ;  the  darkened, 
filthy  dwelling  a  type  of  the  darkened  souls  within  ;  hideous 
vices  and  crimes  rampant.  In  the  worst  of  them  human 
beings  do  not  so  much  live  as  wallow,  like  the  lowest  animals, 
in  mud  and  slime.  Read  the  recent  revelations  of  the  press 
regarding  'Outcast  London,'  where  the  misery  of  the  poor, 
amid  poisonous  surroundings,  is  on  the  most  gigantic  scale  and 
has  reached  the  utmost  ])itch  of  intensity.  The  picture  of  these 
horrible  '  slums  and  rookeries,'  in  the  very  heart  (S  the  great- 
est and  wealthiest  city  in  the  world,  has  made  the  whole  nation 
shudder.  It  is  well  that  they  have  been  unveiled  in  r.ll  their 
naked  hideousness,  tTiat  men  mayTnow  Tiow  mucli  misery  exists 
alongside  of  a  glittering  civilizaticm  and  an  enormous"  incTcase 
of  wealth.  On  a  sinaller  scale  all  tlie  great  centres  of  popu- 
KiTIon  in  Eiigland  and  on  the  contiiu^nt  of  Europe  repeat  the 
doleful  tale  of  the  London  slums.  The  misery  is  so  vast  in  its 
dimensions  that  i)hilantlin)py  shrinks  away  in  despair  from  the 
hopeless  task  of  grappling  with  it.  Nor  are  these  foul  condi- 
tions connected  with  the  housing  of  the  poor  confined  to  city 
slums.  A  few  years  ago  the  census  sliowed  that  in  Scotland 
there  were  7,ll()4  houses  without  windows,  and  220,001  houses 
—  one-third  of  the  whole  —  with  but  one  room.  England  is 
but  little  better.     Even  in  the  New  World,  with  its  ample,  un- 


14 


WHERE  ARE   WE  AND    WnirUER   TENDING  f 


occiipicd  spaces  and  unexhausted  resources,  pau|>crlsm  is  assum- 
ing gigantic  proportions  in  all  the  great  cities.  A  report  on 
the  city  of  New  York,  published  a  few  years  ago,  showed  that 
there,  in  proportion  to  population,  pauperism  was  greater 
than  in  Ireland,  and  the  death-rate  higher  than  that  of 
London  ;  that  18,000  persons  were  living  in  cellars ;  that  a 
large  proportion  of  the  city  is  unprovided  with  sewerage ;  and 
that  nearly  half  a  million  of  inhabitants  are  packed  into  narrow 
streets,  lanes,  and  courts,  nt  the  rate  of  240,000  within  the 


square  mile.  Such  are  the  conditions  of  life  in  the  Empire  City 
of  the  New  World ;  so  little  avails  monarciiy  or  republicanism 
in  dealing  with  this  formidable  enemy.  What  are  your  vast 
railways,  your  electric  lights,  Adimtic  cables,  steam-driven 
ocean-rangers,  and  printing-presses,  to  tiicse  sunken  masses  — 
these  barbarians  of  civilization  ?  AVhat  a  poor  offset  arc  your 
nebular  hypotheses  and  molecular  theories,  your  spectroscopic 
investigatwns  of  sun  and  stars,  with  these  seething,  wretched 
masses  of  humanity  weltering  in  helpless  misery  at  your  doors  ! 
In  Nineveh.Baljyjqnj  or  Home  was  there  anything  (piite  so 
bad"?" 

"  Or,  to  cast  a  ray  of  light  on  other  portentous  facts,  let  me 
j)oint  my  self-deceiving  friends,  who  think  it  all  right  with 
the  world,  to  the  existing  military  system.  Europe  is  at  this 
moment  a  vast  camp,  with  more  tiian  seven  millions  of  men 
withdrawn,  wholly  or  partially,  from  productive  industries, 
armed  to  the  teeth  with  all  that  human  ingenuity  can  invent  in 
the  shape  of  destructive  engineering,  waiting  for  some  man  of 
'  blood  and  iron  '  to  '  cry  havoc  and  let  sli[)  tlie  dogs  of  war.' 
Look  at  the  battle-fields  of  Sadowa,  (iravelotte,  and  Sedan,  in 
the  Old  World,  and  at  Gettysburg  in  the  New  ;  at  the  grim 
struggles  of  the  Parisian  Connnune  ;  at  the  awful  carnage  of 
Plevna  ;  the  campaigns  in  Afghanistan,  South  Africa,  and  Egypt. 
What  a  grim  comment  these  on  the  approaching  brotherhood 
of  man  and  the  *  the  federation  of  the  world  ! '  Ivemember, 
too,  that  ever  since  history  got  her  first  page  written,  and  long 
before,  the  sat"'  bloody  struggles  have  been  going  im,  war 
being  tT»e  nor     .1     .,ndition  of  society,  and  peace  the  exception. 


WHERE  ARE   WE  AND    WUITIIER   TENDING  t 


15 


In  dealing  with  the  criminal  classes,  modern  ciTilization  has 
achieved  no_grcater  success  than  m  the  case  of  pauperism. 
The  low-browed,  ferocious  criminal  class  has  multiphcd  till 
prison  room  can  scarce  be  found  for  them,  and  property  has 
to  be  guarded,  not  only  by  armies  of  police,  but  with  rev6lver8 
and  heaviest  bolts  and  safes.  The  labor  question ,  too,  is 
another  unattractive  feature  of  progress.  Capital  and  labor 
arc  at  present  in  the  most  hostile  relations,  and  we  have  had 
already  some  terrible  warnings  of  _thc  convulsions  that  may 
arise. 

"Some  of  the  profoundest  thinkers  are  now  anticipating  a 
revolutionary  epoch  in  Europe,  from  the  prevalence  of  Social- 
ism, Communism,  and  Nihilism  among  the  working  classes. 
Hardly  a  year  elapses  without  news  from  some  quarter  of  a 
million  of  human  beings  perishing  by  famine  and  i)lague.  The 
land  question  has  recently  assumed  prominence,  and  presses  for 
a  solution,  the  rights  of  property  being  seen  to  conflict  sorely 
with  the  rights  of  man.  The  state  of  society  in  Ireland  has 
long  been  a  standing  0[)probrium  of  British  statesnumship,  —  :i, 
dark  blot  in  the  jiistory  of  civilization.  The  triuniphs  of  medi- 
cal science,  I  grant,  are  not  lo  be  dcs[)iscd  ;  but  how  insig- 
nificant they  look  in  j)resence  of  the  thousands,  in  every  land, 
who  are  slowly  dying  of  consumption  and  cancer,  for  which,  as 
yet,  no  remedy  is  found,  perishing  by  cholera  and  phigiie,  and 
burning  in  deadly  fevers  f  Science  lias  still  ample  room  to  work 
when  thousands  of  miners  are  destroyed  every  year  by  the. 
deadly  fire-damp,  and  when  cvcry^oast  is  Btrevyn_Avith  the 
corpses  of  drowned  seamen.  Is  it  not  rather  premature  to 
raise  your  hymns  of  triumph  when,  amid  the  incctJtiant  roar 
of  commerce  and  the  accunuilation  of  piles  of  wealth,  count- 
less nmhitudes  are  cowering  into  awful  dens  of  want  and  sin 
and  shame,  and  rolliuj;  down  to  forgotten  graven),  vainlv  seeking 
help  from  man  and  hcjpe  in  God  ;  wiien  the  cry  from  nudti- 
tudes  of  fallen  womanhood  goes  up  in  a  terrii)le  shriek  to 
hcii 


wen  ? 


'"  Hear  '  The  Cry  of  the  Human  '  as  voiced  by  ^Nlrs.  Browning, 
and  let  its  wail  quiet  your  enthusiasm  :  — 


16 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    wmTlIER    TENDWOf 


"  '  The  curse  of  pohl  upon  tlie  land 
The  lack  of  brond  enforces ; 
The  rail-curs  snort  from  strand  to  strand, 

Like  more  of  death's  white  horses  I 
The  rich  j)reach  "  rights  "  and  future  days, 

And  hear  no  angel  scoflSng  — 
The  poor  die  mute,  with  starving  gaze 
On  corn-ships  in  the  oiHng. 
Be  pitiful,  O  God  !  ' 

"  All  this  constitutes  a  heavy  discount  on  your  civilization 
and  boasted  [)rogrcs3.  Social  and  moral  evils  raise  their  heads 
all  around,  and  hevvildered  philanthropy  fails  to  grapple  with 
them.  The  tragic  face  of  want  and  woe  looks  out  from  the 
mask  of  modern  wealth.  The  coveted  results  are  shared  by  a 
very  few,  thouglT  i)ro(ruce(l  at  an  inunensc  cost  to  mankind. 
That  delicate  embroidery  worn  bv  the  votary  of  fashion  is 
the  work  of  some  hfdf-starvcd  girl,  who  earned  sixpence  a 
day   by   sixteen   hours  of   labor :  — 

"  '  Uending  backward  from  her  toil, 
Lest  her  tears  the  work  should  spoil, 
Shapinf?  from  her  bitter  thongiit 
Ileart's-ease  and  forget-me-not.' 

"That  Brussels  lace  which  adorns  the  head  of  beauty  on  her 
bridal  morn  is  the  product  of  j)oor  lace-weavers  who  must 
work  in  damp  and  cold  apartments,  — for  otherwise  the  thread 
so  attenuated  coidd  not  be  drawn  out,  — so  chili  and  moisture- 
laden  that  consuniption  rides  in  the  air  and  mows  down  its 
victims  in  four  or  five  years.  Truly,  I  think  we  are  far  enough 
from  '  the  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey  '  when  these  are 
the  emblems  of  our  civilization. 

"Still  oiu-  sentimental  optimists  continue  to  murumr  that 
*  Whatever  is,  is  right ; '  and  they  point  to  the  beauty,  the 
order,  and  beneficent  arrangements  of  nature,  and  argue  that 
such  a  fair  casinos,  through  which  '  one  increasing  purpose 
runs,'  is  working  out  slowly  but  surely  a  benevolent  design, 
and  that  all  will  be  riijht  in  the  end,  however  dark  and  mvsteri- 
ous  may  be  [)resent  ap[)earances.  IVIy  well-meaning  friends,' 
exclaims  the  pessimist  rather  fiercely,   'let  me  entreat  you  to 


WHERE  ARE    ,VE  AND    WHITHER   TEyPINGt 


17 


'dear  your  minds  of  cant,' and  look  at  things  as  thoy  really  are. 
You  say  beneficent  nature  will  make  all  right  and  work  out 
gracious  results.  But  what  are  the  facts  of  the  case?  Nature, 
in  many  of  her  aspects,  is,  as  Tennyson  puts  it,  '  red  in  tooth 
and  daw.'  Nature  is  the  spotted  panther,  —  fair  to  sight, 
but  cruel,  merciless,  indifferent  to  human  weal  or  woe.  AN'ith 
lavi-sh  and  reckless  profusion  she  calls  living  creatures  into 
existence  and  in  the  end  slavs  them  all,  often  amid  terrible 
tortures.  The  law  under  which  all  animals  exist  is  'cat  and 
be  eaten.'  In  this  scene  of  teen)ing  life  the  most  striking 
characteristic  is  universal  conflict  and  slaughter.  Every  or- 
ganism is  ceaselessly  engaged  in  pursuing  and  devouring  its 
prey,  and  dependent  for  its  existence  on  doing  this  successfully. 
Listen  to  the  sounds  of  a  tropical  forest  at  night  and  you  hear 
the  roar  of  the  hungry  beasts  of  prey,  the  cries  of  the  pursued, 
the  groans  of  the  wounded  and  dying.  The  ocean  is  a  scene 
of  unending  conflict,  life  being  ever  sustained  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  life.  For  destructive  ends  nature  has  armed  animals^ 
with  claws,  talons,  teeth,  beaks,  stings,  and  malignant  poisons,, 
and  implanted  in  them  those  instincts  which  i)r<)m})t  their 
deadly  use.  All  terrestrial  life,  according  to  your  theory  of 
development,  has  had  a  tragic  history,  and  '  the  struggle  for 
existence,'  resulting  in  *  the  survival  of  the  fittest,'  or,  rather.. 
'  the  strongest,'  presents  a  ghastly  record.  Improvements,  a& 
you  name  them,  have  been  accomplished  through  terrible 
struggles,  and  at  the  cost  of  the  defeat  and  extirpation  of 
all  but  the  few,  the  weakest  ami  most  helpless  being 
mercilessly  eliminated.  JVIan  himself  is  no  exception  to  the 
law.  From  the  semi-brute  condition  he  has  risen  through 
pei'petual  conflicts  and  struggles.  As  Carlylc  puts  it,  the 
primary  question  of  savage  man  to  man  was,  '  Can  I  kill  thee 
or  canst  thou  kill  me?'  Tribes,  races,  nations  have  fought 
since  the  dawn  of  the  human  period,  —  one  wave  of  population 
overwhelming  its  predecessor,  to  meet  in  turn  a  similar  doom. 
"  The  wheels  of  the  chariot  of  progress  are  splashed  with 
blood.  Such  is  nature's  method.  Why  mince  the  matter? 
Each  race,  since  man  stepped  on  the  scene,  has  assassinated  its 


18 


WHERE  ARE   WE  AND    WHITHER   TENDING  f 


predecessor.  The  River  Drift  men  chipped  their  flints,  nnd 
fought  the  nininmoths,  till  the  advancing  glaciers,  bringing  the 
Cuvc  men,  8W(4)t  them  away.  Neolithic  man,  accom[>anicd 
by  the  dog,  the  ox,  and  sheep,  next  appeared  on  the  scene,  and 
annihilated  ihe  Cave  men.  Tiie  swarthy  Iberians  in  turn  were 
driven  back  l)y  the  tall,  fair-skinned  Aryans,  who  arrived  from 
the  great  breeding-grounds  of  humanity,  in  Central  Asia,  two 
thousand  years  before  Christ ;  and  the  intermixture  of  the  last 
two  waves  of  po[)ulation  produced  the  present  inhabitants  of 
Europe,  lirutnl,  ceaseless  couHicts  of  race  with  race  marked 
the  whole  development,  and,  an\id  unspeakable  miseries  and 
torrents  of  blood,  civilization  has  been  won.  Through  fierce, 
deadly  competition  and  the  stern  regimen  of  natural  selection 
men  have  reached  their  present  intellectual  life  ;  but  to  name 
the  [)rocess  a  perfect,  beneficent  arrangement  is  surely  a  per- 
version of  language.  The  more  extended  our  acrpiaintance 
with  the  phenomena  of  nature,  and  the  history  of  man,  the 
more  dearly  we  discern  the  awfid  amount  of  physical  and 
moral  evil  in  the  world  within  us  and  without  us. 

"Your  'blessings  in  disguse  '  theorv  is  seen  to  be  a  miserable 
delusion  as  knowledge  advances  ;  and  your  buoyant  o[)timi8m 
a  rose-colored  vision,  which  is  dissipated  like  a  morning  dream. 
No  doubt  there  is  glory  in  the   sunlight,  and  splendor  in  flow- 
ers, and  beauty  in  the  grass  and  the  waving  foliage  of  the  trees, 
and  much  that  gladdens  and  adorns  human  life,  and  many  a 
beneficent  service  rendered  by  nature.     Still,  we  cannot  disguise 
from  ourselves  (he  fact,  that  nature's  modes  of  procedure  are 
marked  by  innumerable  imperfections  ;  that  her  iron  laws  grind 
on  regardless  of  the  havoc  they  work  among  her  sentient  off"- 
spring,  which  arc  produced  with  such  reckless  fecundity ;  and 
that  her    awful  machinery  of  destruction  'has  neither  morals 
nor  heart.'     In  such  assertions  I  am  not  '  throwing  stones  at 
our  beautiful  mother,'  but  stating  truths  which  only  a  super- 
stitious delusion  prevents  us  from  recognizing.     The  cosmic 
forces,  which  overawe  us  with  their  grandeur  and  might,  have 
an  infinite  capacity  for  destruction,  and,  in  their  ruthless  play, 
inflict  the  moat  terrible  evils.     We  look  in  vain  among  them 


WHERE  ARE   WE  AND    WUITUER   TENDING  f 


19 


for  (liscrimlnating  beneficence.  The  best  nnd  tlie  worst  of 
men,  tbe  grandest  and  the  basest  of  enterprises,  are  alike  over- 
whelmed by  their  inexorable  operations,  to  which  tears  and 
prayers  are  addressed  in  vain.  The  earthquakes  of  Ischia  and 
Java,  in  1883,  destroyed  from  80,000  to  100,000  Innnan 
beings.  In  the  same  year  tornadoes,  cyclones,  and  floods 
caused  n  fearful  destruction  of  luiinan  and  animal  life,  and  an 
incalculable  loss  of  property.  The  year  1884  was  but  little 
less  calamitous.  We  stand  aghast  at  the  iiorrors  of  the  French 
Revolution  ;  but  what  are  we  to  say  of  the  reckless  cruelties 
inflicted  by  these  jirocedures  of  nature  ?  '  A  slight  chemical 
change  '  in  the  potato  is  followed  by  the  death  of  a  million  of 
people.  Science  has  made  us  acqiiainted  with  microscopic 
bacteria  which  furnish  the  germs  of  consumpti(m,  cholera, 
8mall-pox,  diphtheria,  and  hosts  of  other  deadly  diseases;  and, 
as  Tyndall  puts  it,  'millions  of  men  die  that  bacteria  may 
live.'  The  atmosphere  is  loaded  with  these  death-dealing 
germs,  and  science  is  feebly  endeavoring  to  counteract  their 
calamitous  operations. 

"  The  misertes  inflicted  on  a  large  portion  of  the  human  race 
by  that  contemptible  insect,  the  mosquito,  are  beyond  all  calcu- 
lation. Nature  has  furnished  its  proboscis  with  a  complete 
surgical  apparatus,  consisting  of  cutting  blades  or  lancets, 
notched  saws,  and  a  central  tube  through  which  the  poison  is 
injected.  Even  these  insects  are  harmless  conqjarcd  with 
hundreds  of  other  species,  to  say  nothing  of  the  broods  of 
serpents,  armed  with  poison-fangs,  with  which  the  tropical 
rejjions  abound.  Talk  of  the  beneficent  arranijements  of 
nature  I  In  point  of  fact,  man's  great  task  here  is  to  elude 
or  disarm  or  turn  aside  the  maleficent  forces  of  nature  which 
threaten  to  destroy  him  ;  and  the  great  benefit  of  observing 
and  studying  nature  is  to  enable  him  to  counteract  one  law  by 
another,  and  thus  to  move  safely  amid  the  crushing  wheels  and 
projecting  shafts  and  blades  on  which  he  is  liable  to  be  crushed 
or  impaled.  Ail  that  is  good  in  human  life  has  been  won  by 
patient,  watchful  conflict  with  nature.  The  coal  and  minerals 
have  been  excavated,  with  sore  toil,  from  the  depths  in  which 


20 


WITEIiE  ARE   WE  AND    WUITnER    TEXDTNn  f 


nature  hid  them  ;  the  Hwamp  hna  been  (lrjiinc<l ;  the  forest  out 
down  ;  the  barren  soil  rendered  fertile  ;  the  river  hridf^ed  ;  the 
oeean  transformed  into  a  highway  by  HJiips.  Civilization  ia 
eiuiply  a  scries  of  vietories  over  nature. 

"The  cost  in  sufferinf;  and  effort  has  been  fri'ditful,  whatever 
we  may  think  of  the  gain.  At  all  events,  let  us  cease  to  talk 
about  the  beautiful  beneficent  arrangements  of  nature  as  inevi- 
tably, of  themselves,  working  out  an  earthly  paradise  for  man. 
Rather  let  us  acknowledge  that  Innnan  toil  and  endeavor  have 
to  wrest  from  ininueal  forces  whatever  is  conducive  to  comfort 
and  well-being.  ()  my  friends  !  pester  us  no  more  with  what 
Matthew  Arnold  calls  :  — 


"  '  The  barren  optimistic  sopliistrios 

Of  conit'ortaMi?  iiidIi's,  whom  wlint  they  do 
Teaches  tliu  limits  of  the  just  and  true; 
(And  for  such  doin<j  they  require  not  eyes.) 

"  '  If  sadness  at  tlie  long  heart-wasting  show 
Wiierein  eartli'a  great  ones  are  disquieted ; 
If  th  lughts,  not  idli',  wliile  before  me  flow 

The  armies  of  the  homeless  and  unfed,  — 
If  these  are  yours,  if  tliis  be  wliat  yo\i  are, 
Then  I  am  yours,  and  wiuit  you  feel  I  share.'" 

It  must  be  allowed  that  the  foregoing  creed  of  the  pessimist 
is  somewhat  harsh  and  bitter,  and  yet  he  is  worth  listening  to, 
because  he  deals  with  ccrtaiii  unpleasant  facts  which  cannot  be 
set  aside,  though  he  may  misinterpret  or  unduly  magnify  them. 
The  seamy  side  of  things  nuist  l>e  looked  at  as  well  as  the  smooth, 
presentable  side.  There  is  nothing  like  bold  criticism  and  dis- 
cussion for  eliciting  the  truth.  The  pessimist,  to  whose  views 
of  nature's  dark  side  I  have  given  a  place,  and  who  sees  a 
crack  in  everything,  and  is  disposed  to  take  the  least  hopeful 
view  of  matters,  has  his  uses.  For  one  thing,  he  furnishes  a 
valuable  corrective  to  the  excesses  of  good-natured  but  weak 
optimism,  which  would  have  us  believe  that  all  things  are  in  ex- 
cellent condition  ;  that  the  universe  is  advancing  most  satis- 
factorily ;  and  that  we  shall  soon  have  paradise  restored, 
shutting  our  eyes  to  all  the  sins  and  sorrows  and  miseries  of  the 


WHERE 

ARE 

WE 

AND 

WIflTlfKR 

TENDINO  f 

21 

world. 

We   Imvc,  ill 

these   (lavH,   ii   imilt 

ittide  of  henevoh 

>nt 

Hi'UtiincntaliHtt) ; 

ovcr- 

t*aiijf 

(line 

jliilantlirop 

istH,   with   their 

l>et 

]>an!i(M>)u 

1    tor    Imtiiiui 

ilLs, 

and 

tlie  general    reeonstnietion 

of 

eoeiety  ;  relormers  with  tiieir  special  schemes  tor  the  rapid  ex- 
tir[)ation  ot"  |K)verty  and  all  evil.  They  are  determined  to 
"  hurry  up  "  the  millennium  and  drag  in  the  goMen  age  before  it 
is  properly  due.  To  this  weak,  enthusiastic  optimism  the  \)Qh- 
Bunist  furnishes  a  wholesome;  antidote.  It  is  good  to  confront 
these  unduly  sanguine  niortals  with  some  of  the  harsh  facts  of 
the  universe,  which  i)essimism  so  strenuously  proclaims.  Our 
excellent  enthusiasts  will  thus  perhaps  he  led  into  calmer  and 
more  intelliifent  methods  of  wcll-doin;;,  and  saved  from  bitter 
disaj)pointment.  The  utterances  of  the  pessimist  may  sound 
harsh,  hut  they  have  in  souk;  respects  a  healthy,  bracing  in- 
tluence.  The  Book  of  Kcclcsiastcs,  so  pervaded  with  the  sad 
pessimistic,  spirit,  and  saturated  with  views  of  the  poverty  and 
emptiness  of  life,  and  the  I'utility  of  human  endeavor, — with 
its  dolctui  rci'rain,  "  Vanity  of  vanities,"  —  has  its  place  in  the 
canon,  and  attracts  many  u  8ym|tatheti(;  spirit.  C'arlyle,  with 
his  grim  denunciations  of  progress  and  tierce  exposures  of  our 
make-believe  happiness  and  social  shams,  is  no  less  welcome  in 
literature  than  the  buoyant  optimistic;  Emerson,  who  can  hardly 
discover  anything  amiss  in  the  system  of  things.  The  extrava- 
gant eulogiums  on  our  wondertui  civilization  and  progress  arc 
apt  to  generate  indolence  by  erciUing  the  belief  that  all  wrongs 
are  being  rapidly  righted  without  any  exertion  on  our  jiart, 
and  that  the  millennial  sun  will  soon  arise  and  shine,  jNIorc- 
over,  sober,  restrained  pessimism  striki-s  a  true  note,  just  be- 
cause there  is  a  permanent  element  of  sadness  in  life.  Whatever 
the  future  may  have  in  store,  there  is  enough  sorrow  in  the 
world  to  call  tbrth  this  minor  music.  "  Man  was  made  to 
mourn"  is  a  sentiment  which  strikes  a  fsympathctie  cord  in  • 
mill'jus  of  hearts.  "The  still  sad  music  of  hiunanity  "  must 
alternate  with  the  more  joyous  strains,  to  produce  a  full  choral 
harmony.  All  experience  tells  us  that  injprovemcnt  is  a  plant 
of  very  slow  growth.  We  are  working  within  limitations  over 
which  we  have  little  control :  — 


n 


WHERE  ARE   WE  AND    WHITHER   TEXVINQf 


"  Sceinir  thin  vnlc,  thia  earth  whorpon  wo  dream 
Is  on  ull  sidea  overHliuduwi'd  by  tlie  liigit 
Un-o'LTleaped  ninuntaina  of  ncciiHsity, 
Hparint;  us  narrower  Tnar({in  tliiin  wo  deem." 

In  tlio  game  of  life  it  iw  found,  ns  tlx'  Grocks  cxprcfwed  it, 
that  "the  dice  of  the  gods  are  loaded."  The  eternal  laws  of 
the  univereo  enclose  us  as  with  lofty  walls  which  we  cannot 
overleap.  Wo  choose  and  work  under  limitations  which  are. 
unaltenvblc.  Our  powers,  physical,  mental,  and  moral,  our 
temperament  and  disposition,  depend  upon  events  over  which 
we  have  had  no  control,  —  upon  a  l<jng  line  of  ancestors  frouj 
which  we  have  been  evolved  ;  upon  the  race  whose  blood  flows 
in  our  veins  ;  upon  the  climate  in  which  we  are  born  ;  and  we 
can  only  modify  these  by  patient  effort  and  to  a  limited  extent. 
The  outward  circumstances  of  our  lot,  which  are  not  of  our 
own  choosing,  constitute  another  limitation.  Around  their 
representations  of  human  life  the  keen-eyed  Greeks  drew  a 
circular  line  which  could  not  be  overlea[)ed  by  any  mortal,  in  a 
worhl  embraced  by  all-encompassing  law.  It  is  this  which  gives 
rise  to  the  note  of  sadness  in  the  music  of  humanity,  and 
inspires  whatever  is  real  in  the  pessimist's  views  of  life.  The 
frustration  of  the  noblest  plans  and  bravest  endeavors  ;  the 
futility  of  human  toil,  and  the  poverty  of  its  results ;  the 
inevitablencss  of  mistakes  ;  the  disappointments  attending  the 
brightest  hopes;  the  slowness  of  all  improvements  which  might 
raise  our  life  to  higher  levels  ;  the  waste  of  force,  and  the  evils 
which  so  often  attend  and  even  blight  the  best  attempts  to  in- 
crease the  auiount  of  good,  —  and  the  inevitable  grave  at  the 
close, — these  arc  the  obdurate  facts  of  life  which  cannot  be 
ignored  and  which  suggest  and  justify  the  elegiac  I'.iood  of  the 
reasonable  pessimist.  In  all  literatures  and  in  all  religions 
tliis  sad  and  solemn  "note"  is  heard, — in  some,  loud  and 
overpowering;  in  others,  as  a  pathetic  undertone.  In  view  of 
the  in)niense  misery  of  the  world,  the  passionate  cry  of  the 
sufferer  of  Uz  might  be  accepted  as  the  expression  of  humanity, 
"  groaning  and  travailing  in  pain  :  "  "  Have  pity  upon  me, 
have  pity  upon  me,  O  ye  my  friends  1 "     This  is  true,  but  it  is 


WirKHK  ARE   117;  AM)    WlflTlim    TFxni.\nt 


23 


not  the  whole  truth.  It  is  l»iit  11  |  urtiiil  and  itiipcrfcct  ropro- 
Hontution  of  liiiiimn  life.  For  thert!  Is  HUUrthinc  na  well  t\A 
nhadow,  I)ri«;htnc88  ns  woll  uh  j^lootn.  Our  poor  world  has 
|)rodu(Td  luanv  11  HiicccsHful  h(>n(>tti<'tor ;  many  a  Htatcsnian 
whortc  lahorn  havo  hh'SHcd  his  {^ciicration  ;  many  a  poet  whoso 
son^H  ^hidch'n  the  heart ;  many  a  sweet  soul  toiUng  with  sueeess 
for  the  good  of  others.  The;  vietorioiiH  euhivators  r)f  neienct' 
espeeially  have  h?lpeil  to  dispel  tlje  <hirk  views  of  human 
destiny. 

Let  U8  glance  for  a  moment  at  their  achievenients. 

Modern  science,  in  the  new  views  of  the  univers,*  which  it 
is  working  out,  and  in  its  ju'aetieal  a|>plications  to  the  improve- 
ment of  man's  surroundings,  elainia  to  ho  regarded  as  an  im- 
portant factor  in  human  [)rogress.  It  is,  indeed,  the  great 
wonder-worker  ;  and,  if  we  are  to  accept  its  achievements  diu'iug 
the  last  half  century  as  pledges  of  what  it  may  \n\  expi'cted  to 
accomplish  in  the  future,  it  is  diflicult  to  dispute  its  pretensions 
or  to  (picstion  its  supremacy  among  the  forces  which  have 
clearly  an  upward  tendency.  With  what  a  diHereut  eye  man 
looks  on  his  dwelling-place  since  science  has  sounded  the 
depths  of  s|)ace  ;  weighed  the  earth  and  planets  ;  tracked  the 
comet  in  its  awful  sweep;  calculated  tlu;  time  of  its  return  ;  and 
revealed  the  wonders  and  glories  written  in  the  starry  scriptures 
of  the  skies  !  How  ditierent  the  views  of  men  regarding  the 
world  \A  which  wo  live  compared  with  those  held  in  former 
ages,  when,  as  Sir  John  Luhbock  tells  us,  "  AVe  now  know 
that  our  earth  is  but  a  fraction  of  one  of  at  least  seventy-five 
millions  of  worlds  ;"  and  that  "  we  cannot  doubt  that  then;  are 
countless  others,  invisible  to  us  from  their  greater  distance, 
smaller  size  or  feebler  light  ;  indeed,  we  know  that  there  are 
many  dark  bodies  which  now  emit  no  light,  or  coniparaiively 
little  !  "  On  the  opposite  end  of  the  scale,  science  has  explored  . 
the  constitution  of  matter,  and  measured,  for  oxain[)le,  the  mole- 
cules of  hydrogen  gas,  "each  of  which  is,  at  most,  one  tifty 
millionth  of  an  inch  in  diameter,"  and  at  (50^  Fahr. 
"move  at  an  average  rate  of  G.225  feet  in  a  second."  "  Torby 
calculates  that  the  smallest  s[)hcre   of   organic  matter,  which 


24 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WIUTIIER    TENDING  t 


\\ 


could  be  floiirly  defined  with  our  most  powerful  niieroseopes, 
would  oontiiiu  many  millions  of  molecules  of  silbumen  and 
water." 

Science  has  demonstrated  that  matter,  in  one  of  its  forms, 
is  a  million  times  more  attenuated  than  atmospheric  air.  The 
imagination  faints  under  such  disclosures  as  these.  The  powers 
of  thoufrlit  by  wlii(!h  they  have  been  reached,  the  inijenicms 
instruments  by  wiiich  they  have  been  worked  out,  give  us  a 
higher  idea  of  man,  the  intellectual  monad,  who  has  wrung 
such  secrets  from  nature.  But  Science  is  many-sided,  and  has 
the  imiverse  for  her  field  of  labor.  She  has  grap[)led  with 
the  problem  of  the  earth's  history,  and  has  trium[)hantly  dc;- 
ciphered  it  as  tvritten  in  the  hieroglyi)hics  of  the  rocks.  She 
has  carried  human  history  away  back  beyond  all  written 
records  to  Pahcolithic  and  Neolithic  ages,  and,  by  patient  re- 
searches in  many  lands,  has  made  us  acquainted  with  the  stone 
and  bronze  weapons  and  tools,  the  ornaments,  the  war  imple- 
ments, the  cooking  apparatus,  and  many  of  the  customs  and 
manners  of  early  man.  She  has  soimded  the  abysses  of  ocean 
to  the  depth  of  4,570  fathoms,  and  told  us  the  composition  ot 
the  dee[)-lying  beds,  and  from  these  awful  depths  brought  up 
strange  forms  of  life  from  regions  where  it  was  until  recently 
believed  no  living  creatures  could  exist. 

Electricity  has  been  utilized  in  telegra[)hy,  and  the  convey- 
ance of  intelligence  has  now  reached  such  perfection  that  "  it  ia 
possible  for  four  instruments  to  be  worked  irresi)cctively  of  one 
another,  through  one  and  the  same  wire  connecting  two  distinct 
places."  Tlie  same  wonderful  agent  is  made  to  yield  light,  and 
to  transmit  mechanical  power.  Sir  John  Lubbock  says  :  "  liy 
the  electric  transmission  of  power,  we  may  hope  8t)me  day  to 
utilize,  at  a  distance,  such  natural  sources  of  energy  as  the 
Falls  of  Niagara,  and  to  work  our  cranes,  lifts,  and  machinery 
of  every  descri[)tion  by  means  of  sources  of  power  arranged  at 
convenient  distances."  Trains  are  now  propelled  by  currents 
of  electricity  passing  thrv)ugh  the  rails,  and  the  storage  of 
electric  energy  has  been  accomplished.  Scimens  has  j)r()ved 
that  the  a[»[»lication  of  electricity  to  [)lants  greatly  increases  the 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WITITnER   TENDING  t 


25 


rate  of  their  growth,  anil  improves  the  quality  and  quantity  of 
the  |troclucts.  Eighty  years  ago  no  better  means  <.>f  lighting 
Eddystone  light-house  was  known  than  a  row  of  tallow  candles 
stuck  in  a  hoop.  What  a  stride  in  that  period  to  the  dazzling 
electric  light !  The  invention  of  the  tele[)hone  and  microphone 
by  means  of  which  the  human  voice  is  transmitted  through  the 
electric  conductor,  is  another  of  the  wonderful  achieveraents  of 
science. 

All  these,  and  hundreds  of  other  scientific  discoveries 
which  might  be  named,  have  a  direct  bearing  on  human  well- 
being.  They  remove  evils  and  greatly  increase  the  amount  of 
positive  good.  Science  is  feeding  the  hungry,  clothing  the 
naked,  and  lightening  toil  and  woe.  Take  a  single  instanc((  in 
connection  with  the  working  of  railways  and  steam-boats.  The 
average  production  of  an  acre  of  land  in  Dakota,  one  of  the 
Western  States  of  America,  is  twenty-four  bushi-ls  of  wheat. 
The  railway  and  the  steam-ship  convey  these  twenty-tour  bushels 
to  Liver[)ool  or  London  —  a*  distance  of  5,0(K)  miles  — 
for  foiiy-eight  shillings  sterling,  thus  inunensely  chea[)ening 
the  staff  of  life.  Had  it  been  asked,  ten  years  ago.  Can  one 
hundred  and  fifty  million  bushels  of  grain  be  moved  from  the 
jM'airies  of  the  West  5,000  miles,  in  a  single  season,  t(»  feed 
tin;  hungry  millions  of  Euro[)e,  he  who  would  have  answered 
"  Yes  "  would  have  been  smiled  at  as  a  visionary.  Hut  the  feat 
has  iu'tually  been  accomplisln-d.  Not  only  is  food  thus  |)ro- 
vidid,  but  the  land  (piestion  of  Euro|)(' bids  fair  to  receive  a 
i)eac''ful  settlement,  as  hii^h  ri-nts  and  landlords'  rii^hts  can 
scarcely  be  maintain(>d  in  the  face  of  su(!h  couipctition.  (ireat 
eni;ineerin<;  works  have  now,  bv  their  very  ^amiliaritv,  ceased 
to  astonish,  since  railways  are  carried  over  nioniitain  chains, 
and  through  their  very  centres,  and  Suez  and  I'aiiaiiia  canals 
unite  oceans. 

What,  then,  does  science  whisper  as  to  ^^'here  we  arc  and 
whither  we  are  tending?  \\'liat  light  does  it  cast  on  man's 
})resent  positiiui  and  earthly  (U'stiny  ?  W'lieu  all  this  has  been 
achieved  by  Science  in  a  lew  years,  and  during  her  minority,  who 
can  set  bounds  to  the  possibilities  of  her  I'uture?     Already  she 


26 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TEXDIXOt 


has  created  a  new  era  whose  ideas  arc  gradually  permeating  all 
minds.  Siie  speaks  words  of  cheer  and  hope  to  man,  and 
holds  out  before  him  infinite  possibilities  of  good.  She  is  at 
this  moment  deep  in  the  study  of  those  parasitic  organisms 
whose  multiplication  causes  some  of  the  most  terrible  diseases  ; 
and  she  gives  promise  of  protecting  man  from  the  disease  pro- 
ducing bacteria  by  appropriate  inoculation,  as  has  been  ah-eady 
accomplished  in  small-pox.  Even  now  the  average  of  human 
life,  in  many  countries,  has  been  raised,  by  observance  of 
those  sanitary  conditions  which  science  has  made  known.  The 
fertility  of  the  soil  has  been  iuHucnsoly  incrcas' d  under  her 
teachings.  Her  magic  pipe — more  potent  than  the  lyre  of 
Orpheus  —  is  the  steam-whistle,  at  whose  shrill  notes  moinitaina 
open,  as  before  the  "Pied  Piper  of  Ilamelin,"  and  stones 
dance  into  graceful  forms  —  nnd  the  sleep  of  ages  is  broken. 
Under  its  spell,  oceans  are  spanned,  rivers  and  arms  of  the  sea 
bridged,  Alps.  Andes,  and  Rocky  Mountains  are  cloven,  and 
the  nations  are  joining  hands.  •SNIan's  dwelling-place  is  in  proc- 
ess of  being  enriched  and  beautified  and  delivered  from  many 
haunting  evils  that  have  o[)pressed  the  past.  Nor  are  her 
victories  all  material.  Science  is  teaching  man  to  know  and 
reverence  truth,  and  to  believe  that  only  as  far  as  he  knows  and 
loves  it  can  he  live  worthily  on  earth,  and  vindicate  the  dignity 
of  his  spirit.  None  of  her  trutlie  arc  barren.  All  tend  to  bene- 
fit mankind  morally  and  spiritually,  as  well  as  physically  and 
economically.  Every  conipicst  won  in  the  realms  of  nature 
marks  one  more  haunting  delusion  slain,  one  more  falsehood 
extinguished,  one  more  eiuMiiy  subdued  and  eonvertcd  into  a 
friend  and  hci[)er.  In  all  that  science  has  done  and  is  doing 
we  see  a  c/i'y/ue  y90?{7er  ojjerating  for  good.  "  The  masters  of 
those  who  know  —  the  hierarchy  of  science,  feel  them  selves 
standing  on  firnj  ground,  and  tlu'ir  attitude  is  confident  and 
their  onward  movement  imtlinching."  Tliey  know  that  they 
are  "  in  the  order  of  Providence."'  The  denunciations  of  isfno- 
ranee  move  them  not.  Like  the  ocean's  waves,  the  knowledge 
won  by  science  is  now  an  in-rolling  tide,  and  it  is  vain  to  bid  it 
retire.     It  is  the  ohl  story  once  more  of  Canute  with  his  chair 


WHERE  ARE   WE  AND    WniTUER    TENDING  f 


27 


on  tlie  sea-shore,  and  his  obsequious  courtiers  around,  as  the 
tide  advanced  f — 


"  Will  the  advancing  waves  obey  mc,  bishop,  if  I  make  tlic  sign?" 
Said  the  bishop,  bowing  lowly,  "  Land  and  sea,  my  lord,  are  thine." 
Canute  turned  toward?  the  ocean,  "  Back,"  ho  said,  "  thou  foaming  brine  1 " 

"  From  the  sacred  shore  I  stand  on  I  command  thee  to  retreat; 
Venture  not,  thou  stormy  rebel,  to  approach  thy  mastci's  feet; 
Ocean,  be  thou  still :  I  bid  thee,  come  not  nearer  to  my  feet !  " 

"  But  the  sullen  ocean  answered  with  a  louder,  deeper  roar, 
And  the  rapid  waves  drew  nearer,  falling,  sounding  on  the  shore  : 
Back  the  keeper  and  the  bishop,  hack  the  king  ami  courtiers  bore." 

There  was  a  time  wlien  the  tide  of  knowlcdj^e  was  feeble  and 
its  advance  wavering,  and  when  ignorant  or  interested  men  coidd 
hold  it  in  check  or  bid  it  retire.  Now  it  has  increased  in 
vohnno,  and  swelled  into  a  resistless  tide,  before  which  Canute 
and  iiis  train  have  to  retreat  rajjidly  or  be  swallowed  up. 

15ut  now  let  us  see  whether  there  is  not  another  side  to  this 
fair  picture  which  science  presents.  Let  us  hear  what  our 
pessimistic  philosopher,  who  has  a  great  api)rcciation  of  the 
ancients  and  their  achievements,  has  to  say  in  reply  to  the 
boasted  results  of  modern  science.  I  can  imagine  his  rising 
and  retorting  on  the  scientists  after  this  fashion  :  "  My  scientific 
friends,  1  do  not  for  a  moment  wish  to  disparage  your  work,  or 
to  dispute  your  claims  to  honor.  Yoiu-  work  is  great  and 
vsilnablc  ;  and  your  discoveries  and  inventions  throw  a  lustre 
on  the  age.  I  bid  you  God-sj)ced.  Follow  up  yoiu'  coufpicsts 
of  Nature,  and  continue  to  expound  her  hvwsj  Jnit  beware  of 
pride  and  vain-glory.  Do  not  imagine  that  you  an;  a  uni(pic 
"peopTe,  and  that  iio  one  has  ever  grappled  witii  nature's  secrets 
till  you  appeared  on  the  scene.  You  are  fond  of  contrasting 
the  present  with  the  past,  and  bragging  of  the  enormous 
advances  youliave  made  in  modern  j^lays.  Ihit  your  boasted 
progress  is,  after  all,  little  more  than  niotion  in  a  circle  ;  or, 
like  that  of  the  *  Wandering  Jew,'  a  mere  change  of  place. 
You  fancy  your  scientiiie  discoveries  have  placed  the  present 
a^c  inuneasureably  in  advance  of  all  its  predeccssora :  but,  in 


28 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER   TENDING  f 


many  instances,  you  are  only  re-discoverlnff  what  tlie  despised 
ancients  found  out  thousands  of  years  ago  ;  and"  some  of  their 
achievements  were  such  as  you  have  not  yet  api)roached, 
though  your  stores  of  knowledge  are  greater,  and  you  excel 
them  in  a|)})lying  these  to  the  practical  pur})osc8  of  life.  You 
are  proud  of  your  achievements  in  the  mechanical  arts.  Come 
with  me  to  old  Egypt  and  learn  a  lesson  of  humility.  Your 
theory  is,  that  the  higher  civilization  is  an  outgrowth  from  the 
lower,  and  that  all  the  records  of  the  past,  historical  and  mate- 
rial, sustain  this  view.  In  pre-historic  times,  you  will  not 
allow  the  possibility  that  there  may  have  been  men  equal  to 
yourselves  in  mental  capacity.  Then  let  me  invite  you  to  an 
examination  of  that  stone  mountain  called  the  Great  Pyramid. 
It  is  undoubtedly  the  oldest  historical  monument  of_ninn'^  pkill 
and  genius ;  but,  instead  of  being  rude  in  structure  and  primi- 
_tiye  in  conception,  it  is  superior  in  execution  and  design  to  all  of 
the  kind  that  followed  it.  Piazzi  Smyth,  the  astronomer  royal 
of  Scotland,  examined  it  most  carefully,  and  though  his  theory 
regarding  its  origin  and  purpose  is  wildly  extravagant^yet  his 
scientific  observations  are  valuable.  It  covers  an  area  of  thir- 
tecn  acres ;  it  rises  to  the  height  of  four  hundred  and_fift;^jjs.ct> 
and  contains  seven  millions  tons  of  stone.  Tradition  states  that 
one  hundred  thousand  men  were  employed  for  twenty  years 
in  its  erection.  Piazzi  Smyth  tells  us  that  the  pyramid  is 
truly  square;  its  sides  equal,  its  angles  right  angles;  that  the 
four  sockets  on  which  the  four  first  stones  of  the  corners  rest 
are  truly  on  the  same  level ;  that  the  directions  of  the  sides  are 
accurately  to  the  four  cardinal  points  ;  and  that  the  vertical 
height  of  tiic  pyramid  bears  the  same  proportion  to  its  circum- 
ference at  the  base  as  the  radius  of  a  circle  does  to  its  circum- 
ference. These  measures,  angles,  and  levels,  he  says,  are  so 
accurate  as  to  require  the  very  best  modern  instruments,  and 
all  the  refinements  of  geodetlcal  science,  to  discover  any  error 
at  all.  Tiie  workmanship  of  the  interior  is  i)ertect.  The 
passages  and  chambers  arc  lined  with  huge  LlocTcs~of  stone 
fitted  with  the  utmost  accuracy ;  and  every  part  shows  the 
highest  structural  science.     While  it  is  the  largest  and  oldest, 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WIIITIIER   TENDING  ? 


29 


it  greatly  surpasses  all  tlio  other  pyramids.  The  minil  which 
planned  it  was  not  of  miraculous  growth,  but  only  some 
degrees  superior  to  contemporary  minds,  and  a  true  product  of 
its  age.  The  artificers  could  not  have  arisen  among  a  low, 
barbarous  race.  Such  designers  and  constructors  must  have 
been  preceded  by  a  long  line  of  less  able  men  ;  and  this  stu- 
pendous work  must  have  been  the  culmination  of  an  immense 
series  of  inferior  structures.  It  was  an  embodiment  of  skill 
and  experience  obtained  in  a  lengthened  preceding  civilization 
of  which  we  know  nothing.  There  it  stands,  therefore,  at  the 
very  dawn  of  history,  one  of  the  greatest  works  of  man,  as  a 
lasting;  rebuke  to  the  extravagant  boasts  of  moderns. 

"Then  turn  to  the  Sjiihinx.  Is  there  any  modern  sculptor 
who  would  contract  for  the  execution  of  a  companion  statue  of 
the  Egyptian  Sphinx,  as  it  lies  half-buried  in  the  sand?  And 
yet  there  it  has  been  for  thousands  of  years  — 

"  '  Staring  right  on  with  cahri,  eternal  eyes,' 

while  Cambyses,  Alexander,  Cicsar,  Napoleon,  with  all  their 
glittering  hosts,  swej)t^j^)ast.  This  enormous  statue  was  cut  out 
of  a  mass  of  solid  limestone,  its  length  being  one  hundred 
and  eighty  feet,  its  height  sixty-two  feet ;  and  the  (.'ircumfer- 
encc  of  its  forehead  one  hundred  juid  two  feet.  It  is  another 
monument  of  primeval  genius,  and  must  have  been  the  outgrowth 
of  a  lengthened  period  of  art,  all  records  of  which  have  per- 
ished. Indeed,  the  monumental  ruins  of  Egypt  may  well  make 
us  moderns  hang  our  heads  in  shame.  What  can  compare 
with  the  majestic  ruins  of  Thebes,  sung  of  by  Homer  as  hav- 
ing a  hundred  brazen  gates?  It  flourished  in  all  its  glory 
eighteen  hrndred  years  before  Christ.  There  is  .still  to  be  seen 
the  statue  of  Mcmnon  —  kinijlv  thouifh  shattered  —  one  of  the 
oldest  and  nol)lest  works  of  art.  There,  too,  is  the  temple  of 
Luxor,  with  its  rich  sculptures,  and  the  Temple  and  Hall  of 
Karnac,  the  central  avenue  of  which  contains  twelve  columns, 
each  sixty  feet  high  and  twelve  feet  in  diameter,  the  temple 
itself,  with  its  courts,  being  two  miles  in  circumference.  The 
heart  must  bow  in  reverence  before  the  great  race  who  planned 


r 


30 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WIlTinER    TENDING  t 


I'M 


llf 


and  executed  such  works.  That  the  liuinnn  mind  conceived 
them,  thnt  hands  like  our  own  fashioned  tiifni,  gives  us  a 
nobler  i<lea  of  man,  '  the  paragon  of  animals.'  We  become  a 
little  doubtfid  regarding  modern  progress  when  we. find,  as 
"Wilkinson  has  proved,  that  these  old  Egyptians  knew  and  ap- 
.^l[ed  steam  as  a  motor  power  more  than  three  thousand  years 
ago  ;  that  four  thousand  years  ago  they  manufactured  glass  and 
stained  it  more  skilfully  than  our  modern  M'orkmen  ;  and  that 
their  cunning  artificers  built  ships  which  doublicd~nTc  Cape  of 
Good  IIo[)C  twenty-one  centuries  before  Vasco  de  Gama  accom- 
plished the  feat.  __I\)rtj_centmJe8jig^  dentists  were  stuf- 
fing  teeth  with  gold-leaf,  —  an  art  which  was  only  introduced 
into  Europe  at  a  comparatively  recent  date.  In  many  things 
we  are  but  reproducing,  after  painful  efforts,  what  this  wonder- 
ful ])eoplc  invented,  and  we  find  ourselves  traversing  the  very 
track  they  trod. 

"  But  Egypt  is  not  the  only  misty  shape  that  rises  out  of  the 
mighty  j)ast.  Babylon,  with  its  hanging-gardens  and  vast 
walls  and  varied  industries  ;  Nineveh,  with  its  huge  population, 
whose  human-headed,  colossal  winged  bulls,  carved  with  rare 
skill,  now  adorn  our  museums  ;  Persepolis,  whose  ruins  attract 
travellers  from  every  land,  and  Sidon,  the  produce  of  whose 
looms  and  workshops  supplied  the  world ;  —  all  these  pass 
before  us  in  shadowy  forms.  We  arc  proud  of  our  English 
commerce,  which  penetrates  to  all  lands  and  is  laclci  with  the 
produce  of  all  climes,  and  carries  the  manufactures  of  England 
to  the  remotest  regions.  But  before  David  san<;  his  immortal 
psalms,  or  Solomon  reared  his  unequalled  temple,  there  stood, 
on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  great  Tyre,  the  mistress 
of  the  seas,  —  the  England  of  the  ancient  world,  —  interchang- 
ing the  commerce  of  East  and  West,  —  gathering  the  merchan- 
dise of  India,  Arabia,  and  Ethiopia  and  distributing  it  among 
the  nations,  —  supplying  the  wants  of  the  luxurious  Egyptians, 
—  hewing  down  the  cedars  of  Lebanon  to  build  her  ships,  and 
clothing  the  world  in  her  purple  garments.  Tyrian  ladies 
wrapped  themselves  in  the  soft  shawls  brought  from  Cashmere, 
and   wore   the   flashing   diamonds   of    Golconda.      Carthage, 


m 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WIIITHER   TENDING  f 


31 


which  rose  to  greatness  and  long  rivalled  Rome,  was  an  off- 
shoot of  Tyre.  Her  sceptre  extended  over  all  the  rich  isles  of 
the  Mediterranean.  In  wealth  and  grandeur,  in  industry  and 
prosperity,  in  trade  and  manufactures,  these  ancient  cities  do 
not  suffer  when  compared  with  our  modern  capitals.  Centuries 
before  Romulus  founded  Rome,  Etruria  was  a  Hourishinj;  kinj;- 
dom,  embracing  the  region  now  known  as  Tuscany,  in  Italy. 
It  was  far  advanced  in  the  arts  ;  studded  with  noble  cities  ;  had 
its  paved  roads  and  an  admirable  system  of  drainage  and  tun- 
nelling, the  ruins  of  which  still  bear  testimony  to  its  advanced 
civilization.  More  Avonderful  still  was  Syrian  Baalbcc,  as  it 
stood,  in  stately  grandeur,  three  thousand  years  ago,  under  the 
mountain  range  of  Anti-Libanus,  a  rival  of  Tyre  and  Palmyra 
in  the  trade  with  India.  Baalbec  was  one  of  the  great  com- 
mercial capitals  of  the  ancient  world,  whose  merchants  had 
their  agents  in  India  and  Africa,  their  storehouses  in  Petra 
and  on  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea,  and  who  em[>loyed  an 
army  of  land-carriers  in  transporting  the  merchandise  of  East 
and  West.  Her  proud  dames  trod  the  gorgeous  carpets  of 
Lydia  and  decorated  tluMuselves  with  the  gold  of  0|)hir,  the 
pearls  of  Arabia,  and  the  jewels  of  Ceylon.  With  the  wealth 
accumulated  by  conmierce  she  reared  magniHcent  temples, 
palaces,  basilicas,  the  mutilated  ruins  of  which  fill  us  moderns 
with  awe  and  astonishment.  Even  '  time's  efhicing  finger,' 
working  through  centuries,  has  failed  to  destroy  those  archi- 
tectural piles.  According  to  the  plan  of  Wood  and  Daw- 
kins  the  great  temple  of  Baalbec  was  two  hundred  and 
ninety  feet  in  length  and  one  himdred  and  sixty  in 
breadth,  having  ten  colunms  in  front  af  d  nineteen  on  the 
flank,  each  column  being  seventy-one  feet  in  hciglit  and  seven 
feet  in  diameter,  the  shaft  consisting  of  three  pieces  united 
so  exactly  that  the  blade  of  a  knife  cannot  be  inserted  between 
the  joints.  Where  is  the  modern  structure  that  can  compare 
with  this  gigantic  temple  ?  And  yet  it  is  but  one  among  the 
many  wonders  of  Baalbec.  You  moderns  who  can  transmit 
thought  on  the  lightning's  pinions  across  ocean-beds  and  broad 
continents,  and   make   the  circuit  of  the  globe  in  eighty  days. 


32 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDING  f 


and  fathom  tlie  deepest  abysses  of  ocean  and  measure  the 
moleeules,  must  yet,  in  view  of  tliese  massive  ruins,  how  in 
revcrenee,  and  own  tiiat  there  were  'giants,'  in  intellect  and 
skill  '  on  the  earth  in  those  days,'  whose  feats  are  yet  un- 
8ur[)assed.  Yoiu*  hoasted  projrrcss  looks  somewhat  question- 
able in  view  of  the  greatness,  the  enterprise,  the  conunerce  and 
prosperity,  the  works  of  art  and  industry,  of  these  early  daya 
wTiosc  imperishable  ruins  overwhelm  us  with  astonishment. 
Thc_  shape  and  manner  of  art  and  industry,  it  is  true,  have 
changed,  but  where  is  the  (ulvnnce?     T^our'ntled  cannon  and 


iron-clads  are  far  more  destructive  than  the  catapult  or  rowing- 
galleys  of  antiquity.  Your  Enfield  and  Whitworth  guns,  and 
your  torpedoes,  are  ingenious  engines  of  destruction.  But  even 
in  these  contrivances  have  you  greatly  surpassed  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  great  ones  of  the  past  ?  The  material  prosperity 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  in  both  hemis[)heres,  is  vast ;  and  yet 
does  it  more  than  reproduce,  in  another  shape,  the  grandeur 
and  commercial  greatness  of  the  ancient  nations?  Or,  to  de- 
scend the  stream  of  time,  turn  to  glorious  Greece,  whose  genius 
is  still  a  foimt  of  inspiration,  whose  philosophy  pervades  and 
animates  modern  thought.  Ilcr  sculptures  are  still  the  noblest 
models  ;  her  Parthenon  is  still  the  wonder  of  the  world,  though 
in  ruins.  You  boast  of  your  engineering  skill  in  sup[)lying 
your  great  cities  with  water  ;  but  what  are  the  greatest  of  your 
efforts  compared  with  the  aqueducts  of  Kome,  some  of  them 
sixty  miles  in  length,  crossing  valleys  at  an  elevation  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty  feet,  and  supplying  the  city  constantly  with 
a  body  of  water  equal  to  that  of  a  river  thirty  feet  broad  by 
six  feet  deep?  The  Cloaca  Maxima  of  ancient  Ivome,  built 
by  Tarquinius  Priscus  five  hundred  and  eighty  years  before 
Christ,  is  still  an  unsurpassed  work  of  its  kind.  Need  I 
remind  you  of  the  Coliseum,  the  temples,  the  baths,  the 
sculi)tures  of  old  Rome  which  are  yet  imrivalled? 

"  Leaving  the  Old  World  let  me  now  invite  you  to  glance  at 
the  New  ;  and  here,  too,  you  find  that  the  ancient  men  were  the 
greatest  and  the  oldest  works  the  most  astonishing.  Take 
Easter  Island,  one  of  the  remote  islands  of  the  Pacific,  two  thou- 


WHERE  ARE    WE  ANT)    WHITHER   TENDIXGf 


33 


}St 

rh 


iit 


at 
ic 
te 
u- 


sand  miles  from  the  coast  of  South  America,  two  thousaml  miles 
from  the  Manjuesas,  and  one  thousand  miles  from  the  f  lamhier 
Islands,  the;  nearest  grou[)  to  it.  Here  are  fomid  hundreds  of  gi- 
gantic stone  images,  now  mostly  in  ruins,  sonic  of  them  forty  feet 
high,  with  crowns  on  tluiir  heads  ten  feet  in  diameter,  tiu;  head 
and  neck  of  one  heing  twenty  feet  high.  One  of  the  smallest 
wei<i:hs  four  tons  ;  the  larjiest  over  a  hundred  tons.  These  ima<;e8 
once  stood  on  extensive  stone  platforms.  What  race  of  men 
erected  there  «;iifantic  fi<;ures  hewn  out  of  the  roek?  No  one 
can  tell  ;  but,  in  the  opinion  of  the  most  competent  judges,  these 
vast  works  imply  a  civilization  such  as  has  hcen  found  nowhere 
in  Southern  Ami'rica  or  the  Pacilie  Islands.  Easter  Island  is 
a  mere  speck  of  earth,  not  larger  than  Jersey,  one  of  the  Chan- 
nel Islands,  having  an  area  of  only  thirty  s(juare  miles.  Only 
a  j)e')ple  possessed  of  a  stable  government,  and  acipjainted  with 
the  art  of  navigation,  so  as  to  be  al»le  to  cmnmunicate  with  the 
mainland  and  other  islands  around,  —  a  people  numerous  and  far 
advanced  in  civilization,  —  could  have  erected  the  stone  images; 
on  Easter  Island  ;  and,  be  it  remembered,  such  a  civilization  must 
have  been  the  growth  of  centuries.  But  of  this  vanished  race- 
no  tradition  even  remains.  The  same  holds  <;ood  reuardini;  the- 
ruined  cities  of  Central  America,  whose  sculptures  show  that  the- 
Indians  found  there  by  Europeans  were  [)n'ccdcd  l)y  a  distinct 
and  far  more  civilized  race,  of  whose  existence  we  should  have 
known  nothing  but  for  these  moulderinj;  ruins.  In  Mexico  and. 
Peru,  the  more  ancient  terra-cottas  and  pottery  j)ortraits  tell  a 
similar  talc  of  a  long-vanished  race,  much  more  advanced  than, 
the  races  subdued  by  the  Si)aniards,  having  features  and  cranisu 
resembling  the  njodern  European  type. 

"Pass  now  to  North  America.  In  the  valleys  of  the  Mis- 
sissip[)i  and  Ohio  are  found  enormous  earthworks,  consisting  of 
camps,  or  works  of  defence,  on  hills  ;  enclosures  on  the  [)lains, 
having  attached  to  them  roadways  and  avenues  many  miles  in 
length,  and  mounds  seventy  to  ninety  feet  high,  and  covering 
many  acres  of  ground.  Take,  as  an  exaa)[)le,  the  sacred 
enclosure  at  Newark,  Ohio,  which  covers  several  miles,  with 
its     connecting     group    of    circles    octagons,     squares,    and 


1^ 


r 


34 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AM)    WlffT/IER    TENDING  t 


ellipses.'  The  avenucH  are  on  a  «,n'an(l  scale,  formed  hy 
embankments  twenty  to  thirty  feet  high.  The  eircles  are 
true,  and  one-thinl  of  a  mile  in  diameter ;  the  sides  of  the 
8(juare8  are  each  a  thon>*and  feet,  Hhowing  a  knowledge  of 
rudimentary  geometry  and  some  means  of  meat<uriiig  angli's.' 
No  less  remarkahle  are  tiu;  sepulchral  and  sacriHcial  mounds, 
which  are  on  a  large  scale,  and  Avonderfully  synimetrical  in 
shape.  'J'he  relics  dug  out  of  these  tunudi  cast  light  on  the 
character  of  the  mysterious  pe(>[)le  wiio  constructed  theui. 
ThcMc  consist  of  ornaments  in  mica,  [)ottery,  carvings  in  stone, 
cop|)cr  disks,  silver  heads,  and  metallic  articles  formed  by 
hanunering.  The  pottery  is  far  superior  to  that  of  the  Indian 
tribes,  having  figiu'cs  of  birds,  and  flowers  in  delicate  relief. 
'The  heads  carved  on  pipes  were  portraits,  >-;howing  an  intelleet- 
ual  civilized  ])eoj»le,  with  small  thin  lips  and  straight  noses, 
indike  any  of  the  Indian  aborigines.  The  crania  show  more 
frontal  d(!velopment  than  that  of  the  Inilians,  some  of  them 
being  worthy  of  a  Greek.  These  mounds  are  overgrown  with 
dense  forests,  the  trees  of  which  are  eight  hundred  to  one 
thousand  years  old.  Several  generations  of  trees  must  pass 
away  before  the  growth  on  a  deserted  clearing  comes  to  corre- 
spond with  that  of  the  surn)unding  virgin  forest ;  while  this 
forest,  once  established,  may  go  on  growing  for  an  unknown 
nund)er  of  thousands  of  years,  so  that  the  forest  gives  no 
measure  of  the  age  of  the  mounds.'  Now,  here  again,  we  find 
the  ancient  people  the  more  civilized  and  advanced  on  the 
American  continent.  These  ^lound  Builders  must  have  been 
an  intellectual  race,  who  [)ractised  agriculture,  possessed  a  civil 
organization,  and  were  far  ahead  of  the  barbarous  tribes  who 
were  found  in  possession  of  the  country  on  its  discovery  in  the 
fifteenth  century.  IIow  far  Iku'Iv  the  roots  of  that  civilization 
exten<led  who  can  tell?  The  Indian  triljcs  had  not  even  a  tra- 
dition of  their  existence;  and  their  only  'footprints  on  the 
sands  of  time  '  are  these  earthworks.  There  were  great  engi- 
neers, builders,  artists,  and  architects,  and  a  dense  population, 
possessed  of  advanced  social  institutions,  hundreds  of  years 
■before  Coiunibus  touched  the  shores  of  America.    Where,  then. 


wiiKRi:  Mil-:  ir/v'  ash  wiiitiieu  Ti'.xnisat 


35 


is  your  boasted  progn-Hs  iti  onj^ineenng  skill  luid  iuvliitectural 
nchii'vcmcnts  ?  " 

At  this  point  our  pessiiiiistic  pliilosoplicr  piiiisos  to  wipe  his) 
i)ro\v  and  take  iiiTath,  nnd  then  oncD  niun;  taken  up  his  parahlc. 
"My  seientitie  friends,  I  ciin  tiiney  yo'i)  when  l)affled  on  the 
points  I  have  already  discussed,  still  f'allin;^  l)a<'k  on  liti'ratiirc, 
poetry,  philosophy,  and  the  finer  prodnetic.ns  of  tin;  mind,  as  a 
last  resonree,  eonlident  that,  in  these,  you  moderns  have  left 
the  ancients  far  behind.  Ihil  this  is  not  (piite  so  evidi-nt  as  yon 
liuglit  imajiine.  To  hegin  with  poetry:  lias  any  nnxlern 
singer  discovered  a  higher  j)oetic  faculty,  a  more  profoundly 
creative  genius,  or  a  l)older  sweep  of  imagination,  than  Homer, 
who,  three  thousand  years  ago,  sang  '  the  wondrous  tale  of 
Troy  divine  ' :  — 


"  '  IFomcr  with  tlic  hrond  suspense 
Of  tluintrrous  brows  ami  lips  intense 
Of  j,'arriili)us  liod-innocence.* 

"Your  modern  poets,  doiilitless,  put  farmore  knowledge  into 
their  verses,  and  are  more  introspective  and  self-analyzing;  hut 
where  is  the  modern  poem  which  has  such  a  play  of  divine 
light  over  it,  such  Hre  and  energy,  and  such  picturesque  vivid- 
ness  as  the  Iliad?  And  what  shall  we  say  of  ^•Eschylus, 
throned  in  tragic  grandeur ;  of  IMndar  with  his  lyrie  fire  ;  of 
Sophocles  and  Euri|)i(les  ;  of  sweet-voiced  Ivoman  Virgil,  and 
Horace  with  his  y-raceful  Ivre?  lias  there  been  any  resil  en- 
largemcnt  of  the  j)oetie  faculty  since  their  day  ?  Are  not  the 
poets  of  Greece  and  Rome  onr  models  still,  and  the  inexhausted 
source  of  modern  poetic  inspiration?  Nearly  all  the  great 
problems  in  niental  and  moral  science  about  which  the  Kants, 
Ilegels,  Ilamiltons,  ^lills,  and  Mansells  of  modern  days  have 
been  dis[)Uting  are  discussed  in  the  pages  of  Plato,  Aristotle, 
and  Cicero,  with  a  breadth  of  view  that  will  at  least  bear  com- 
parison with  the  treatment  of  modern  metaphysicians,  —  proving 
that,  in  mental  calibre,  the  ancient  thinkers  were  by  no  means 
our  inferiors. 


"in  political  science  vvc  can   boast  of  little  advance.     The 


I     I 


ac 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    T ESI) ISO? 


prDpor  fuTK^tioiiH  ninl  Hplicrc  of  fidvcriiinciit  aro  liardly  more 
nrciiriitcly  dctincd  now  tliaii  of  «>l(l.  The  fiiiHlaiucntal  prinei- 
j)l(!H  of  ^ovcniiiKMit,  wliicli  arc  ap|)lii>al)1c  to  all  times,  arc  to  he 
found  acciiratciv  laid  down  in  tlic  pa;.fc!s  of  vVriHtotlc,  l*ol)l>itiJ», 
and  Cicero,  and  to  these  tin-  poMtical  pliilosophers  and  states- 
men of  oin*  own  days  must  still  turn  for  <;uidanco.  Hen;  are 
ar<;ned  out,  in  an  exhaustive  method,  the  merits  of  njonarehics 
and  rppuMies,  of  oli;;areliie8  and  (h'niociaei«'s,  alxmt  which 
we  arc  dehatinj;  to-(h»y  ;  and  metli<»ds  laid  down  for  votinj^  hy 
classes,  eo  as  to  |)revent  tin;  educated,  the  intelliijent,  and 
wealthy  from  heinj;  overpowered  hy  tlu;  masses  of  an  ijjjnorant 
ilemocracy.  I  admit  that  you  scientitic  men  arc  nnich  farther 
advanced  than  the;  ancients  in  a  knowledife  of  the  laws  of 
nature;  hut  \x\fucultij  you  can  hardly  pr(!tend  to  eclipse  the 
Euelids,  Archimedescs*,  and  Aristotles  of  ancient  days.  The 
stores  (»f  knowled<j;c  necumnlated  generation  after  «feneration, 
and  preserved  and  difliiscd  hy  the  press,  are  immense;  and  in 
the  application  of  such  knowledge  to  every -day  life,  the  moderns 
are  far  ahead  of  the  ancients  ;  hut  they  are  not  their  superiors 
in  mental  force.  And  if  you  assert  that  mankind  are  now  more 
virtuous  and  happy  than  of  yore,  you  \\'\\\  find  yourselves  con- 
fronted with  an  array  of  hostile  facts.  Consider  the  picture 
of  modern  society  as  reflected  in  the  newspaj)er  press  of  the  day, 
—  with  its  tale  of  nmrders,  hrutal  cruelties,  gigantic  frauds 
and  rohherics, — with  its  narratives  of  dishonesties  in  trade, 
and  the  mean  and  selfish  contentions  of  poTTtical  parties,  —  with 
its  occasional  disclosures  of  the  foul  ulcers  eating  into  social 
life,  and  the  hopeless  miseries  in  which  myriads  of  the  working- 
classes  are  living,  —  and  ask  are  these  indications  of  advancing 
virtue  and  happiness,  and  of  a  higher  and  purer  social  life  than 


men  lived  in  early  ages?  la  the  houndlcss  thirst  for  vvcalth, 
which  is  the  disease  of  the  age,  likely  to  secnre  a  more  wide- 
spread happiness?  If  virtue  consist  in  the  love  and  practice 
of  truth  and  purity  and  rightcousijcss, — in  a  readiness  to  sub- 
ordinate selfish  considerations  to  a  regard  for  the  good  of  the 
whole,  —  in  the  high  sense  of  duty,  —  in  a  respect  for  the  laws  ; 
and  an  enlightened  patriotism,  — can  you  pretend  that  your  age 


WffERt:  ARE    )VE  AND    WIIITUER    TEyDISQt 


37 


i«  more  virtuous  than  its  prcdcccsHors  ?  To  such  (lucstions,  I 
think,  thcri!  can  be  but  one  answer.  Whatever  proj^ress  you 
may  boast  of  it  is  not  apparent  in  any  of  these  respects. 
Noi)ier   patriotism,    [)urer   self-sacrifice     for    th(!    [)ublic    weal, 


sterner  reverence!  for  duty,  healthier  souls  and  bodies,  these 
niodiirns  fail  to  show,  when  confronted  with  the  ancients,  and 
especially  with  those  who  livcil  in  the  best  days  of  early  Greece 
and  Kouje.  Mrs.  Browning  goes  to  the  root  of  the  mutter 
when  she  says  :  — 

"  '  For  wo  throw  out  iicdaniiitions  of  Hflf-tliinkinK,  sclf-iidinirinj;, 

Willi,  ut  every  niilo  run  fiistor,  "  Oli  1  this  wondrous,  wondrous  ago ; "  — 
Little  tliink'mu;  if  wo  work  our  houIh  iih  nobly  as  our  iron, 
Or  if  angels  will  commend  us  at  the  goal  of  pilgrimage. 

"  '  If  wo  trod  the  deeps  of  ocean,  if  we  struck  the  stars  in  rising, 
If  wo  wrapiu'd  the  glolio  intensely  with  oiu'  hot  electric  hreath, 
'Twere  hut  power  within  our  tether,  no  new  s|iirit's  power  comprising, 
And  in  lite  we  were  not  greater  n»en,  nor  holder  men  in  death.' 

"  iVnd  now,  my  heroes  of  progress,  to  eoncludo  my  too 
lengthy  harangue,  let  mc  respectfidly  suggest  that,  froin  all 
this,  you  migiit  reasonably  gitther  some  lessons  of  humility. 
It  may  be  a  question  whether  you  are  progressing  at  all,  or 
whether  you  are  not  'progressing  backward.'  It  might  well 
modify  yoiu'  self-glorification  to  stanil  for  a  little  while  by  the 
grave  of  the  i)ast  and  meditate  on  the  greatness  and  glory,  the  nm- 
terial  and  mental  wealth,  which  it  shrouds.     Look  back  throu<rh 

.-  ■-■'---  ■  T  II.,  .  I  .„  O 

the  waves  of  time,  and,  while  you  llaintt  your  victorious  ban- 
ners and  triimiph  in  your  power  and  prosperity  and  stores  of 
wealth,  remember  that  these  buried  natit)ns  —  whose  skeleton 
remains  we  are  studying,  whose  [)aintings  and  seidptmvs  adorn 
our  nmseums,  whose  dust  is  the  plaything  of  the  desert  wind, 
whose  records  attract  the  antifpiarian  and  historian,  whose 
s[)lendor8  have  vanished  like  snow  before  the  warm  Itreath  of 
spring  —  were  once  as  energetic  ami  sueeessfid  in  the  piu'suits 
of  industry  and  commerce  as  yoiu'selves.  Tlicy,  too,  were 
mighty  eonciuerors,  colonizers,  traders,  W()rkers.  They  built 
great  cities,  stately  temples,  noble  nDnuments.  Their  argosies 
of  commerce  covered    the   seas ;    they   drained    the    marshes, 


!'■!« 


M 


38 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WUITIIER   TENDING* 


bridged  wide  rivers,  felled  the  forests,  .and  made  the  barren 
earth  fruitful.  They  extended  their  dominion  over  vast  regions, 
and  introduced  law  and  order  among  savage  comnumities. 
Wiiere  now  is  all  tlieir  splendor  and  greatness?  They  and 
all  their  world-shaking  deeds  arc  hushed  in  the  silenee  of  a 
mighty  death.  They  are  gone  as  completely  as  a  child's 
morninjj  dream;  reminding  us  forcibly  'what  shadows  we  arc 
and  what  shadows  we  pursue.'  By  the  grave  of  the  past  let 
pride  humble  itself  and  the  boaster  hush  his  babblings.  Of 
these  ancient   civilizations,  a  name,  a  memory,  alone  survive. 

"  What  warrant  have  you  for  believing  that  your  own  nine- 
teenth-century civilization  will  not  meet  a  similar  doom  ? 
Why  should  you  suppose  that  it  will  be  exempt  from  the  great 
law  of  growth,  decay,  and  death,  which  rules  all  earthly  things? 
Tile  surface  growth  of  the  present  has  its  roots  in  the  past, 
and  will  one  day  be  fcmnd  among  the  buried  strata.  _  The 
conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  then  is,  that  in  many  depart- 
ments of  iirt,  industry,  and  intellectual  activity,  we  moderns 
have  not  made  any  marked  advance  on  the  achievements  of  the 
ancients  ;  and  that  in  the  conditions  of  human  existence,  social 
and  moral,  it  is  questionable  whether  any  considerable  improve- 
ment has  yet  been  reached.  There  is  the  same  weary  round 
of  labor,  but  no  noble  end  towards  which  it  is  working.  There 
is  the  same  growth,  decay,  and  death  of  civilizations  as  before. 
The  same  dreary  track  is  trodden  again  and  again  ;  but  where 
is  the  ^i^oldeii  tjoal  towards  which  huinanitv  is  tending?" 

It  must  be  admitted  there  is  a  certain  amount  of  truth  in 
these  caustic  presentations  of  our  grim  philosopher,  though 
his  view  is  one-sided  and  lie  fails  to  grasp  the  most  vital 
facts  of  the  case.  Hi^  reads  life  and  history  tlirough  glasses 
somewhat  colored  with  his  own  individuality.  His  utterances, 
however,  have  their  value,  and  are  worthy  of  attention.  They 
must  not  be  overlooked  in  framing  an  answer  to  the  question, 
"  AVliere  arc  we  and  whither  tendinj;?"  For  one  tliiuir,  it 
becomes  evident  that  the  question  is  far  more  difficult  and 
tangled  than  might  at  first  sight  apjiear.  The  buoyant  opti- 
mist, who  is  ever  boasting  of  progress  and  telling  us  thatjhe. 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WUlTIIilR    TEXDIXGf 


39 


li  in 


human  race  is  approaching  the  brink  of  perfection,  nmst  greatly 
modify  his  views  in  the  face  of  tlie  stern  logic  of  facts.     It 
becomes  clear  that  humanity  has  many  a  weary  march,  many        ^ 
a  hard  struggle,  perhaps  many  a  sore  defeat  before  it,  ere  the     J^ 
])romiscd  land  will  be  reached,   if,  indeed,  such  a  consunmia- (S 
tion  awaits   it. 

In  view  of  the  facts  marshalled  by  our  i)csslmistic  thinker 
we  must  make  certain  concessions,  in  order  to  clear  the  way  for 
a  calm  discussion  of  the  question.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  in 
very  early  ages —  in  fiict,  as  far  back  as  we  can  go  with  the 
aid  of  monuments  and  history  —  thei'e  were  on  the  earth 
people  of  great  intellectual  capacity,  who  had  reached  a  mar- 
vellous degree  of  civilization.  When  we  find  that  two  thou- 
sand five  hundred  years  before  Christ  the  Assyrians  had  public 
_libi*aries  and  encyclopaedias,  catalogues  of  tlie  stars,  and  even 
telescopes ;  when  we  study  the  wonderfid  development  of 
human  art  and  industry  in  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  which  had 
a  still  earlier  date  ;  and  when,  in  the  New  World,  we  explore 
the  ruined  cities  of  Central  America,  the  monuments  on  Easter 
Island,  the  cons*^ructivc  works  of  the  jMound-Builders  of  North 
America,  — we  -e  forced  to  admit  that  intellectual  man  existed 
in  a  very  remote  past,  though  probaljly  in  the  midst  of  much 
surrounding  barbarism.  The  same  view  is  confirmed  by  what 
we  know  of  the  Chinese,  among  whom,  at  a  very  early  date, 
the  use  of  the  mariner's  compass  and  the  art  of  printing  by 
niovable  types  were  known.  'J'he  moral  elevation  of  the  writ- 
ings of  Confucius  and  Zoroaster,  the  powers  of  thought  dis- 
covered by  the  Hindoo  Vedas,  show  that  at  an  early  date  a 
lofty  stage  of  intellectual  and  moral  development  was  reached 
in  certain  regions  and  under  certaiM  guiding  minds.  But,  then, 
there  is  this  important  dift'ereme  between  the  ancient  and 
modern  civilizations,  —  that  the  ancient  forms  of  ci\  ilization 
were  limited  in  area  and  were  surrounded  l)y  a  huge  mass  of 
savagery  and  barbarism,  which,  at  h'ngth,  overwhelmed  and 
effaced  them.  In  almost  every  country  we  see  pntofs  that 
these  partial  civilizations  of  the  past  were  destroyed  by  the 
incursions  of  barbarians,  leaving  onlv  their  wonderful  wTCcks 


' 


40 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDING? 


beljintl.  Then  followed  lonfj  aijes  of  animalism  and  dofjrada- 
tion.  The  earlier  civilizations  could  not  defend  themselvea 
from  the  inrush  of  the  barbarous  but  more  energetic  masses. 
Not  so  at  present.  Modern  civilization,  aided  by  science,  has 
now  reached  its  ninjo- ity  and  is  able  to  defend  itself,  at  least 
in  Europe  and  America.  It  can  now  bid  defiance  to  brute 
force.  No  conceivable  avalanche  of  barbarism  from  any 
quarter  could  ever  crush  and  destroy  intellectual  Europe. 
Even  if  such  a  calamity  should  occur  by  inroads  of  northern 
or  eastern  savages  into  old  Europe,  America  and  the  Australian 
continent  would  still  be  an  unassailable  stronghold  of  civili- 
zation. Where  arc  we,  then?  It  seems  to  me  we  have 
reached  a  stage  of  progress  at  which  we  can  feel  assured  that 
the  gains  won  by  our  toiling  humanity  through  cnturies  of 
struirjirlcs  and  tears  can  never  be  lost,  but  will  be  tiansmitted 
with  interest  to  our  successors. 

Modern  civilization,  therefore,  is  safe.  And  when  w^e  com- 
pare its  achievements  with  the  records  of  the  ancient  civiliza- 
tions, do  we  not  discover  unmistakal>le  marks  of  an  "  increasinj; 
purpose,"  and  a  more  enlightened  and  beneficent  end  in  the 
civilization  of  the  present  day  ?  Those  vast  monuments  of 
ancient  art  and  industry,  though  valuable  as  educators  of  the 
race,  were  for  the  most  [)art  the  work  of  enslaved  masses  of  men 
acting  under  the  orders  of  selfish  despots,  or  priestly  castes, 
who  cared  only  for  their  own  glory  and  aggrandizement.  Many 
of  theni  are  really  monuments  of  iiuman  folly  and  supex'stition. 
It  is  difierent  with  the  great  works  of  the  modern  era,  which 
are  all  subservient  to  human  uses  and  beneticial  to  the  masses. 
Our  railways  and  steam-ships  are  breaking  down  the  barriers 
which  once  divided  the  nations  into  hostile  connnunities,  and,  by 
commerce,  rendering  them  nnitually  helpful  and  (ie[)endent. 
Above  all  they  are  opening  the  wildernesses  of  earth  for  human 
use ;  and  from  the  overcrowded  centres  of  population  they  are 
conveying  the  surplus  to  brighter  and  hap|)ier  homes ;  thus 
bringing  together  the  idle  power  and  the  idle  land.  These, 
with  tiie  telegraph  and  tlie  various  applications  of  electricity, 
are  the  great  agents  in  revoliUionizing  the  whole  conditions  of 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TEXDIXOt 


41 


modern  lite,  and  giving  free  play  to  those  moral  and  religious 
influences  which  have  been  at  work,  and  promise  to  raise  our 
race  to  higher  levels. 

There  is  another  concession  I  feel  bound  to  make.  When  we 
speak  of  modern  civilization  and  progress  we  must  adn»it  that 
these  present  themselves  only  among  the  Uite  of  our  race,  and 
cannot  be  predicated  of  the  hiunan  family  as  a  whole.  Prog- 
ress, in  its  true  sense,  is  as  }et  developed  only  among  the  in- 
habitants of  Europe  and  Amcfica,  and  the  colonial  centres 
which  they  have  established  on  other  continents  and  islands. 
China  presents  us  with  a  case  of  arrested  civilization,  —  a  certain 
point  being  reached,  old  customs  and  ideas  crystallized,  and 
permitted  no  further  expansion  ;  so  tliat  among  a  fourth  part  of 
the  whole  human  race,  change,  which  is  but  another  name  for 
progress,  is  regarded  as  an  iini»iety.  The  first  im[)ulse  towards 
civilization  came  from  the  East ;  but  there,  at  the  present  time, 
with  the  doubtful  exception  of  Ilindostan,  barbarism  prevails  ; 
and  the  vast  stagnant  masses  present  the  same  hoi)eless  aspect 
of  ignorance  and  suffering  as  thousands  of  years  ago.  Africa's 
dusky  millions,  with  all  their  nn'series  and  brutalities,  show  no 
signs  of  improvement  during  past  centurit's.  In  fact,  Europe 
and  America  constitute  the  ho[)c  of  lunnunity.  No  contril)u- 
tions  to  the  cause  of  progress  come  from  other  cpiarters.  Only 
from  the  nations  which  lead  the  van  can  [)ro(ced  tliose  elevating 
influences  which  may  (piicken  tlie  tlull,  stagnant  masses  of  non- 
progressive humanity,  and  ultimately  transform  the  whole. 

On  the  whole  it  is  evident  that  human  progress  is  a  slow  and 
often  painful  process,  involving,  as  seems  to  us,  terrible  sacri- 
fices and  nmch  suffering;  but  llu'ongh  the  fiery  struggle  it 
appears  at  last  to  have  gained  a  firm  foothold,  and  to  have  a 
brighter  future  opening  before  it.  Often  it  has  been  arrested 
and  beaten  back  ;  and  even  now  it  has  many  draw  backs  anil 
dangers.  And  yet  I  believe  there  is  abimdant  c\  idi-nce  to  [)rove 
that  human  progress  is  a  glorious  ri'ality,  and  that  we  are  not 
mere  blind  C^yclops  groping  round  and  round  our  cave,  travers- 
ing over  and  over  the  same  weary  track.  There  is  a  goal 
before  us,  though  as  yet  far  away  in  the  dim  distance.     Wo 


w 


«!    \ 


42 


WHERE  AUE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TEXDIXGT 


are  not  mere  lielplesa,  hopeless  victims,  to  be  ground  up  in  the 
mill  of  a  relentless  destiny.  Human  toil  and  endeavor  in  the 
j)a8t  have  not  been  fruitless  and  vain.  The  forIoi*n  hope  have 
filled  up  the  trench  with  self-8acrifi(!ing  bravery  ;  but  over  them 
their  brothers  will  yet  march  on  to  victory.  It  may  be  true  that, 
on  com[)aring  the  stage  we  have  now  reached  with  the  past,  we 
have  some  difficulty  in  measuring  our  gains  ;  but  this  is  owing 
to  the  slowness  of  the  march.  In  fact,  our  progress  is  not 
direct,  but  along  an  ascending  spiral  curve,  so  that  though  we 
appear  to  return  at  intervals  to  the  same  s[)ot,  we  have  really 
risen  a  little,  and  gained  a  point  of  departure  for  further 
ascent.  "The  more  we  investigate,"  said  the  president  of  the 
British  Association,  at  its  meeting  in  1H(K),  "the  more  we  find 
that  in  existing  phenomena,  graduation,  from  the  like  to  the 
seemingly  unlike,  prevails,  and  in  changes  which  take  ])lace  in 
time,  gradual  j'^'offress  is,  and  apparently  must  be,  the  course 
of  nature." 

Having  heard  the  advocates  on  both  sides,  we  arc  now  pre- 
pared to  balance  their  arguments,  and,  possibly,  to  amve  at  a 
conclusion  in  accordance  with  facts. 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WIIITITER    TENDING t 


43 


LECTURE    II. 

Man  s  Earthly  Destiny  Enveloped  in  Shadows,  but  Li<rhted  with  Gleams  of  Hope. — 
Slow  Development  tiirou<(h  Conllict  and  Pain. — The  Death  of  the  Weakest. — 
The  Life  of  the  Stronfjcst. — AVaste  of  Life.  —  Prevalence  of  SuHerin};. — The 
Ditficulty  and  Sadness  of  Existence.  —  The  ^fystery  of  it  all,  hut  a  l'ro;rressive 
Plan  Evident.  —  Ilifriier  and  Xohlor  Types  followin^r  each  other.  —  Evil  Dimin- 
ishing!.—  Good  Increasing.  —  Development  in  Accordance  with  Unswervinir  Law 
the  Great  Idea  of  the  Affc.  —  The  Great  Question,  "How  lhiu<;s  came  to  he  as 
they  are?"  —  A  Divine  Intelli^'onec  jruidini,'  All.  —  The  Theory  of  Evolution. 
—  Not  Atheistic. — Nolile  Ends  Proposed  and  Accomplished  in  Creation.  —  The 
!Means  Seeminjrly  Harsh.  —  llesults  Infinitely  Precious.  —  The  Evolutionist's 
Credo.  —  "  Some  Soul  of  (ioodness  in  all  Thiii;,'s  Evil."  —  Illustrations.  -^  Laws  of 
Heredity.  —  Love,  Pity,  Compassion  IJorn  of  Humanity. —  Goodness  an  Incrcas- 
xi\i  Quantity.  —  Slowness  of  Projircss.  —  The  Yoke  of  Custom.  —  "  Survivals  "  and 
Revivals.  —  Each  New  Truth  a  Centre  of  Influence.  —  Optimism  and  rcssiniism  to 
be  Discarded.  —  Meliorism  Accepted.  —  Extravayrant  Dreams  Deprecated.  —  Great 
Men.  —  The  Part  they  Play  in  Progress. 


[HERE  is  an  old  story  related  l)y  the  Vencrahle  Bcde, 
.  ,^  eleven  hundred  years  ai^o,  which  is  very  toiiehinj;  and 
*' '    has  often  been  quoted.    Paulinus,  a  Christian  mission- 

¥ary,  had  reached  Xorthiunhria,  a  kingdom  of  the  Saxon 
he[)tarchy.  The  king,  Eadwine,  asseinhled  the  chief- 
tains in  council,  in  order  to  decide  whether  the  stranger  should 
be  heard.  After  a  long  debate,  u  gray-haired  chief  arose  and 
said,  "  Let  us  certainly  hear  what  this  man  can  tell  us,  for  it 
seems  to  me  that  the  life  of  man  is  like  the  flight  of  a  sparrow 
through  a  large  room  where  you,  king,  are  sitting  at  supper  in 
winter,  whilst  storms  of  rain  and  snow  rage  abroad.  The 
sparrow,  I  say,  flying  in  tit  one  door  and  straightway  out  again 
at  another,  is,  while  within,  safe  from  the  utorm  ;  but  soon  it 
vanishes  out  df  sight  into  the  darkness  whence  it  came.  So  the 
life  of  man  appears  for  a  short  space,  but  of  wh:it  went  before, 
or  what  is  to  follow,  we  are  always  ignorant.  If  this  stranger 
can  give  lis  any  new  knowledge  of  these  things,  let  us  willingly 
hear  him." 

How  pathetic  the  picture  as    it  rises  out   of  the  de[)tiis   of 
twelve  centuries  !     The  Saxon  king,   with  his  warrior  chiefs, 


!    ' 


f 

1 


44 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDING  f 


gathered  in  some  rude,  smoke-stained  hall ;  the  old  chief  giving 

utterance  to  the  deep  longing  of  the  human  heart  for  more  light 

on  man's  past  and  future,  —  on    his  history    and    destiny,  of 

which  so  little  was  then  known,  —  on  his  life,  which  gleamed  for 

a  moment  in  the  warm  light  of  the   present,  like  a  s|)arrovv 

flashing  through   a  lighted  banqueting  hall,  from  darkness  to 

darkness,    from    mystery  to    mystery.       It  was    then   even  as 

now  :  — 

"  So  runs  my  dreiini ;  but  what  am  I? 
An  infant  crying  in  the  night ! 
An  infant  crying  for  the  light! 
And  witli  no  hmguago  but  a  cry." 

No  doubt  the  boundaries  of  human  knowledge  have  vastly 
extended  since  the  Northumbrian  warrior  uttered  the  cry  for 
"light ;  "  but  it  is  still  ])athetically  true  that  we  are  yet  children 
in  the  ni<dit,  lonf!;in<;  and  waitim;  for  the  dawn.  If  we  take 
the  Avhole  life  of  man  on  earth,  we  can  read  some  records  of 
his  progress  in  the  {)ages  of  authentic  history  and  the  monu- 
ments and  relics  of  j)rehistoric  times  ;  but  beyond  these  is  a 
space  covered  with  shadows  and  darkness.  And  when  we  ask 
Whither  tends  the  whole?  we  arc  constrained  to  admit  that 
man's  earthly  destiny  is  also  enveloped  in  shadows,  and  we  can 
only  obtain  some  glcan)s  which  light  it  up  with  hope.  We  can 
sec  in  one  [dace  the  colunms  in  slow  and  stately  march,  with 
imbrokeu  front  and  triumphant  banners ;  and  in  another, 
bleeding,  broken  ranks  and  disheartening  defeat.  But  wo  also 
see  unmistakably  an  advance,  —  heights  surmounted,  obstacles 
overcome,  victories  succeeding  defeats  ;  —  pledges  all  of  a  glo- 
rious, ultimate  triumph.  Out  of  conflict  come  strength,  cour- 
age, unity  of  purpose,  sense  of  brotherhood.  Slowly  out  of 
the  turmoil  emerge  order,  knowledge,  culture  oF  the  faculties, 
—  all  that  we  include  under  the  term  Civilization.     Thus, 

"  Through  the  ages  one  increasing  purpose  runs, 
And  tile  tliougiits  of  men  are  widened  with  tlie  process  of  tlie  suns." 

It  is  by  and  through    "  the  life  of   lower    phase "   that   the 
nobler  being  is  born.     We,  and  those  who  have  gone  before  us, 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AXD    WHITHER    TENDTNOf 


45 


arc  links  stretching  up  to  the  "  crowning  race  "  who  are  yot  to 
be  born.  The  seed  is  sown  ;  the  fair  Hower  and  rich  t'ruilagc 
will  in  due  time  appear  :  — 

"Behold  !  we  know  not  anytliinp; 
I  can  bnt  trust  tliiit  f^uod  shall  fall 
At  last— far  off— at  last  ts)  all, 
And  I'voiy  winter  change  to  spring." 


Throufjli  the  dark  shadows  rcstinjj  on  the  future  wc  discern 
the  form  of  a  good  which  increases  more  and  more,  and  tends 
to  triumph  more  and  more  over  the  evil ;  and  even  though  we 
were  to  admit  that,  in  the  past,  suffering  exceeded  happiness 
in  amount,  and  that  this  still  continues,  vet  a  future  is  before 
the  race  in  which  this  surplus  of  misery  will  be  reversed,  and 
happiness  may  l)c  indefinitely  increased. 

At  this  stage  of  the  in(piiry  the  question  presents  itself. 
Why  should  the  world  of  life  be  constituted  on  tlu^  principle  of 
progressive  development  ?  How  comes  it  that  man  has  had  to 
fight  his  way  from  semi-brute  barbarism,  through  mistakes  and 
ignorance,  throuifh  terrible  sufFcrinijs  and  waste  of  life  and 
energy,  to  knowledge,  morality,  and  refinement?  Why  should 
his  course  have  been  over  sharp  rocks,  and  ground,  so  to  speak, 
soaked  in  blood?  W^hy  were  thousands  of  years  spent,  while 
the  stone,  iron,  .ind  bronze  aijes  dra<r<;cd  their  slow  lenixth 
along?  Was  it  necessary  that  progress  should  be  secured  by 
conflict  of  tril)e  with  tribe,  and  nation  with  nation,  —  a  merci- 
less process  by  which  the  weak  were  exteruiinatcd  wliile  the 
strong  survived  ?  AVhy  should  the  race  pass  through  long  pre- 
liminary stages  of  ignorance,  superstition,  and  misery,  in  order 
to  reach  their  perfection,  if  such  be  in  store  for  tiicm?  To  all 
such  questions  there  can  be  no  answer.  Generation  after 
generation  has  looked  into  the  dark  mystery  of  pain  and  evil, 
but  the  problem  is  still  unsolved  —  the  Sphinx's  riddle  is  still 
unread.  Science  tells  us  that  "the  general  law,  leading  to  the 
advancement  of  all  organic  bodies,  is,  niulti[)ly,  vary  ;  let  the 
strongest  live,  let  the  weakest  die."  Not  the  happiness  of 
the    individuals,  but    the    improvement    and    elevation    of   the 


46 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDING  t 


species,  would  seem  to  underlie  the  process  of  nature.  These 
are  the  hard  facts  wiiich  confront  us,  and  cannot  he  explained 
away.  Progress  is  undeniable,  hut  is  reached  by  slow  and 
gradtiated  nietluxls,  and  through  coin|)etition,  strife,  and  i)ain. 
Iluxlcy  said  lately,  "The  world  is  not  constructed  upon  any 
plan  which,  upon  attentive  consideration,  produces  amial)le  feel- 
ings in  the  breast  of  the  philanthropist.  The  world  is  hard, 
full  of  struggle  and  i)ain.  It  is  a  world  in  which  the  weakest 
goes  to  the  wall ;  where  there  is  waste  of  life  and  of  suffering 
absolutely  inconnnensurable  with  the  results  obtained."  This 
is  rather  a  harsh,  pessimistic  statement,  and,  as  it  stands,  cm- 
bodies  but  a  part  of  the  truth.  It  (h)es  not  take  into  account 
the  relation  of  the  parts  to  the  whole,  or  the  ultimate  results 
of  that  progressive  plan  on  which  the  whole  world  of  life 
seems  to  bo  constituted.  If  we  look  only  at  the  method,  our 
view  is  partial  and  inc()m[)lete.  AVe  see  suffering,  waste,  de- 
struction, pain  recklessly  inflicted ;  and  if  we  look  only  at 
these,  and  fail  to  obtain  wide  views  of  the  whole,  we  are 
shocked  and  confounded.  It  is  only  the  final  and  full  develop- 
ment fhat  can  cnal)le  us  to  explain  the  parts  of  the  series,  and 
to  determine  what  life  and  humanity  really  arc.  We  see 
enough,  however,  to  convince  us  that  man  has  progressed  and  is 
progressing  —  that  the  whole  creation  has  been  and  is  "striving 
upward ;"  and  thus,  when  looked  at  in  relation  to  the  whole, 
apparent  imperfections  and  evils  assume  a  very  different  as])ect. 
The  scaffolding  is  rude  and  unsightly,  and  has  not  been  erected 
on  the  principles  of  art  or  humanity  ;  but  the  building  to  which 
this  is  preliminary  and  essential  rises  up  in  stately  grandeur 
and   beauty. 

What  the  world  of  humanity  is  destined  to  become  is, 
with  us,  in  the  present  stage,  very  largely  a  matter  of  faith 
and  hope ;  but  facts  warrant  glorious  expectations  regard- 
ing the  future  as  a  development  of  the  present.  Still,  the 
mystery  of  pain  remains  unsolved.  The  vastness  of  the  world's 
misery  oppresses  and  saddens  all  sensitive  minds,  even  though 
there  is  a  brighter  future  opening.  The  groans  of  "  creation 
travailing  in  pain "   break  on  the  ear.     Tennyson  has  given 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AXD    WHITHER    TEXDINQf 


47 


poetic  expresaion  to  this  fccliiijjf  which,  in  view  of  the   htirah 
facts  of  nature,  «o  many  now  experience  :  — 

"  Arc  God  and  Niituro  then  at  strife, 

Tliat  Naturi-  lends  such  evil  dreams? 
So  careful  of  the  type  she  seems, 
So  careless  of  the  single  life ; 

"  That  I,  eonsiderinjj  everywhere 
Her  secret  meanini^  in  her  deeds. 
And  findinfj  that  of  fifty  seeds 
She  often  brings  but  one  to  bear ; 

"  I  falter  where  I  firmly  trod, 

And  falling  with  my  weight  of  cares 

Upon  tiie  great  world's  altar-stairs, 

That  slope  througii  darkness  up  to  God; 

"  I  stretch  lame  hands  of  faith  and  grope, 
And  gather  dust  and  ciiafT,  and  call 
To  what  I  feel  is  Lord  of  all, 
And  faintly  trust  the  larger  hope." 

We  must,  then,  acce[)t  the  course  of  na_tin*c,  working  on  a 
progressive  plan,  as  an  ultimate!  fact  which  admits  of  no  ex- 
planation. Perfection,  infallible  excellence,  througii  an  im- 
mediate creation,  is  conceivahle  ;  but  such  is  not  the  world 
with  which  we  are  accpiaintcd.  Through  manifold  gradations, 
through  immcastu'able  ages,  the  globe  reached  its  [)resent  state  ; 
each  stage  of  its  progress  being  fitted  for  higher  and  more  com- 
plex forms  of  life.  From  the  Amoeba  to  intellectual  man 
higher  and  nobler  typ(!s  followed  each  other  ;  and  man  himself 
has  risen  and  is  risini;  to  loftier  hci;;hts.  All  this  8U<jr<i:csts  that 
this  imiversal  frame  has  a  meaning  which  we  can  dimly  and 
partially  discern.  The  evil  is  diminishing,  the  good  increasing  ; 
the  lamp  of  knowledge  is  burning  with  increasing  brilliancy 
and   the   realm  c/f  darkness  is  les^sening.      Slowly    but   surely 


3ulFe 


ruiir 


decli 


tl 


mes,  tl)OU<»li  tiie  amoimt  is  s 


till 


onnressive. 


'1>1 


W 


have  no  absolute  perfection,  but  we  have  im[)rovement  to  which, 
as  far  as  we  discern,  no  limits  can  be  placed.  The  suffering 
spurs  on  to  effort,  out  of  which  conies  the  highest  form  of 
goodness  which  we  know.     In  the  battle  with  evil  the  noblest 


48 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WIIJTUER    TENDING  f 


I 


fiuniltios  and  the  tcndorcst  fcollnfjfs  which  adorn  our  humanity 
lire  gradually  devolojx'd.  Errors  lead  up  to  truths  ;  wants  to 
acquisition  ;  poverty  to  wealth.  From  the  superstition  and 
ahsurditice  of  a8troh)<i:y,  the  "star-eyed  science, "  astronomy, 
with  its  hrilliant  disclosures,  slowly  emerged  ;  the  blunderings 
of  alchemy  resulted  in  modern  chemistry,  whose  discoveries  are 
blessing  mankind.  Pain  and  misery  exist,  and  it  is  idle  to 
ignore  or  make  light  of  them  ;  but  nature,  science,  benevolent 
effort  in  its  thousand  forms  and  religious  teaching,  are  all  work- 
ing towards  their  minimization.  In  stately  march  our  race  is 
movinj;  from  the  lower  to  the  higher.  Plan's  social  evolution 
is  ever  towards  a  happier  and  better  condition.  Should  we  not 
welcome  these  hopeful  indications,  and  on  these  feeble  begin- 
nings behold  the  dawn  and  promise  of  a  brighter  era?  thu;^ 
learning  with  the  poet,  — 

"  To  trace  lovc'a  faint  bofrinniii!:^^  in  mankind, 
To  know  even  hate  is  but  a  mask  of  loves ; 
To  sec  a  good  in  evil,  and  a  hope  •• 

In  ill-success ;  to  sympathize,  be  proud 
Of  man's  half-reasons,  faint  asi)irings,  dim 
Strujiglcs  for  truth,  his  poorest  fallacies, 
His  prejudices,  fears,  and  cares  and  doubts, 
All  with  a  toucli  of  nobleness,  despite 
Their  error,  ujjward  tending  all,  though  weak ; 
Like  jil.ants  in  mines  which  never  saw  the  sun. 
But  dream  of  him,  and  guess  where  lie  may  be, 
And  do  their  best  to  climb  and  get  to  him." ' 


Are  these  views  and  aspirations  merely  emotional,  and  born 
of  the  poetic  imagination  ;  or  are  they  verifiable,  because  rest- 
ing on  a  scientific  basis  ?  I  believe  that  science  suggests  and 
amply  sustains,  by  irrefragable  proofs,  that  view  of  the  universe 
which  rests  on  the  idea  of  development  and  progress.  In  fact, 
the  grand  idea  which  has  taken  possession  of  the  mind  of  the 
age,  and  governs  all  its  investigations,  is  that  of  development, 
in  accordance  with  an  unswerving  law,  and  in  the  direction  of 
progress.     Instead  of  looking  at  things  merely  as  they  are  .at 


'  Browning's  Paracelsus. 


i! 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AXP    WHITHER    TENDiyOt 


49 


present,  or  institutions  in  their  existlnf;  contlition,  we  now  view 
them  in  the  li<;ht  of  the  |)iist,  in  tiio  h)nj;  perspective  of  tjjeir 
history;  iind  iisik,  how  came  they  to  l)e  wliat  they  are?  We 
trace  tliein  back  to  tlieir  Hiniplext  Cornis  and  earliest  conditions, 
in  order  to  understand  them  better ;  and  inipiire  thnm^di  what 
antecedents  and  by  what  causes"  have  they  been  moulded  into 
their  present  eliapes.  The  aim  is  to  assij^n  to  each  its  phice  in 
the  order  of  nature,  and  to  trace  its  causes.  The  world  of 
nature  and  of  man  is  viewed  as  a  whole,  and  the  fjuiding  idea, 
which  more  than  anything  else  distinguishes  modern  science,  is 
that  of  development  or  j)rogress  from  the  lower  to  the  higher, 
from  the  simple  to  the  complex,  from  the  homogeneous  to  the 
hcteroifcneous.  This  is  the  <n'eat  law  which  underlies  all  the 
processejs  of  nature,  ever  evolving  from  the  lower,  nobler  forms, 
higher  types,  grander  results.  The  attenuated  nebuhc  have 
been  condensed,  under  the  cosmic  forces,  into  suns  with  at- 
tendant [)lanet8.  From  forudess  molten  matter,  through  count- 
less gradations,  and  during  vast  jjcriods  of  time,  has  emerged 
this  world  of  brightness  and  b(!auty  as  we  kn»>w  it.  From  the 
lowest  forms  of  life  have  come  the  vast  series  of  animated  ex- 
istences which  now  occupy  the  globe,  at  the  head  of  which 
stands  thinking,  reasoning  man.  From  the  rude  primeval 
savage,  with  his  club  and  flint  hatchet,  has  developed  intel- 
lectual man,  with  his  mastery  over  the  forces  of  nature,  and  all 
the  appliances  of  civilization  which  mai^k  him  the  crown  and 
glory  of  creation.  How  much  nobler  and  grander  the  universe 
becomes  when  viewed  in  the  li'dit  of  science  !  Projjress  is 
stamped  upon  its  very  constiturion,  as  the  law  which  pervades 
the  whole.  The  stages  through  which  the  world  has  passed 
were  preliminary  to  the  better  ordered  present,  as  the  existing 
condition  of  things  is  antecedent  to  a  nobler  future.  Can  we 
doubt  that  all  this  is  the  manifestation  of  a  divine  jnirpose,  or 
that  tn^e^/i'^ence  guides  the  whole?  Though  we  can  but  dindy 
and  imperfectly  apprehend  the  purpose  which  underlies  creation, 
yet  we  sec  it  ever  mounting  upwards  towards  tlie  intellectual  and 
moral ;  and  in  that  progress  we  read  the  eml)odiment  of  s 
divine  idea:  — 


I 

■i-ji 


r 


fiO 


WHERE  ARE    WE  A.VD    WIIITI/ER    TENDiyOt 


f  f 


"  One  God,  unc  law,  ono  I'lomont, 
Antl  onu  far-off  divino  t-viiit, 
To  which  the  wliole  cri-ation  moves." 

Tlic  fact  of  progress,  material,  intellectual,  and  social,  I  nold 
to  be  ostabliahed  by  an  array  of  proofs  wbicb  cannot  be  set 
aside.  But,  as  to  tlic  mode  in  wbicb  tliis  pro^'rcss  is  wor' 
out,  there  arc  numerouH  divergent  opinions.  I'rominent  am 
these  is  tbc  modern  theory  of  evolution,  as  it  is  formulated  in 
Darwinism,  wbicb  professes  to  trace  tbc  method  by  wbicb 
progress  is  secured,  namely,  tbat  of  "  natural  selection,"  or, 
"die  struggle  for  exiritence  "  leading  to  "tbc  curvival  of  the 
fittest,"  the  strongest  and  best  types  ever  mounting  to  the  top 
tbrough  conflict  with  tbc  inferior,  and  transmitting  their  supe- 
rior (jualities  to  tbeir  successors.  I  do  not  presume  to  pro- 
nounce regarding  tbc  truth  or  falsity  of  evolution.  To  judge 
properly  such  a  subtle  tbeory  would  demand  (jualifi(;ations  to 
wbicb  I  can  maki;  no  pretensions.  It  has,  bowcvcr,  com- 
mended itself  to  some  of  the  i)n)founde.st  tiiinkers  of  tbc  da"  ; 
and,  witbout  affirming  or  denying  tbc  justice;  of  its  claims  t 
an  cxi)lanation  of  tbc  genesis  and  [)rogress  of  the  world  of  . 
we  may  ask  what  light  does  it  tbrow  on  tbc  sui)ject  of  our  in- 
quiry? Docs  evolution  furnish  a  6ui)stantial  foundation  for  a 
belief  in  progress?  Let  us,  then,  permit  an  cntbusiastic  evolu- 
tionist to  ascend  the  tribune  for  a  little,  and  let  us  bear  what  be 
can  tell  us. 

"  j\Iy  inquiring  friends,"  be  begins,  "I  am  neither  a  prophet 
nor  tbc  son  of  a  j)ro[)bct,  but  only  an  bumble  student  of  great 
Nature  and  her  laws  ;  and,  as  a  believer  in  Darwinism  and  the 
doctrine  of  descent,  I  venture  to  affirm  tbat  its  teachings  have 
unfolded  more  of  the  secrets  of  nature  tban  any  or  all  of  pre- 
ceding systems,  and  that  tbey  are  destined  to  penetrate  and 
modify  all  other  views,  and  powerfully  to  influence  every  realm 
of  human  tbought.  In  tbcsc  directions  tbcy  have  already  ac- 
comi)lisbcd  much,  and  will  do  more.  Further,  I  am  fully  })er- 
suadcd  tbat  the  views  referred  to  arc  full  of  hope  and  promise 
for  the  future  of  humanity.  They  discover  slow  but  constant 
progress  during  the  iuuneasurablc  ages  of  the  past,  each  sue- 


W///JIih'  ARE    WE  AND    WHIT II Ell    TENDlSOt 


:)i 


cc'0(liiifj[  clmn^c  hciiif^  an  lulvanco  on  that  wliich  went  lu'Cnrc  ; 
and  thus  wc  have;  tlic;  hcvst  foiindalion  tor  a  hcHct'  in  the;  con- 
tinnanco  of  a  similar  pro^^rcsH  in  tho  a^ca  to  come.  Wc  may 
have  al)s()liito  confidcnci!  that  hcttiT  thinjxs  an?  in  store  for 
our  race,  and  can  thus  work  toj;<;thcr  lor  the  consummation, 
u«<surcd  that  all  the  powers  of  tlu;  universe  are  conspiring 
together  I'or  the  same  results,  and  that  we  arc  moving  with  the 
mighty  'stream  of  tendency'  flowing  through  the  ngi's,  which 
is  ever  bearing  man  onward  to  higher  hovels.  And  what  is  this 
hut  faith  in  (iod,  who  is  the  j)erfect  unity  of  all  things,  and 
who  clothes  himself  in  law?  The  char<;e  has  a<'ain  and  a^ain 
been  made;  that  evolution  is  atheistic!  in  its  tendencies.  1  re[>el 
the  accusation.  IW  bindinj;  all  livini;  bein;;s  in  (tne  vast  chain 
of  law,  which  we  can  at  least  partiiUly  understand,  it  entitles 
us  to  infer  a  purpose  and  an  intcdiigence  working  through  im- 
measurable ages  for  a  predetermined  end,  which  becomes 
clearer  as  time  rolls  on.  Hear  our  great  master  on  these  points. 
Darwin,  in  'The  Origin  of  Species,'  says:  'To  my  mind  it 
accords  better  with  wlmi  we  know  of  the  laws  impressed  on 
matter  by  the  Creator,  th^t  the  production  and  extinction  of  the 
past  and  present  inhabitai  -  of  tlu;  vorld  should  have  been  due 
to  secondary  causes,  like  those  determining  the  birth  and  death 
of  the  individual.  When  I  view  all  things  not  as  special  crea- 
tions,, but  as  the  lineal  descendants  of  some  few  beings  which 
lived  long  before  the  first  bed  of  the  Silurian  system  was  de- 
posited, they  seem  to  me  to  become  ennobled.  As  all  the;  liv- 
ing forms  of  life  are  the  lineal  descendants  of  those  which  lived 
long  before  the  Silurian  epoch  wc  may  feel  certain  that  the 
oi'dinary  succession  by  generation  has  never  once;  been  broken, 
and  that  no  cataclysm  has  desolated  the  whole  world.  Hence, 
we  may  look  with  some  confidence  to  a  secure  futnre  of  equally 
inappreciable  length.  And,  as  natural  selection  works  solely 
by  and  for  the  good  of  each  being,  all  corporeal  and  mental 
endowments  ^oill  tend  to  progress  towards  perfection.^  Thus 
the  master  teaches  the  doctrine  of  a  Creator  impressing  on  mat- 
ter those  laws  by  whose  operation  all  living  things  have  passed 
across  the  stage  of  life.     The  whole  order  of  nature,  including 


I 


r- 


52 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER   TENDING  f 


I 

•I 


the   evolution    of  organic    forms,  indicates    purpose,  or    mind 
working  towards  a  prearranged  end. 

"This  being  clearly  seen,  thoughtful  people  should  be  able  to 
look  at  the  doctrine  of  evolution  without  becoming  hysterical 
or  horror-stricken.  It  does  not  aim  at  banishing  God  from 
the  universe  and  reducing  the  whole  to  a  piece  of  blind  mechan- 
ism. On  the  contrary  it  siiovvs  a  sublime  order  pervading  all 
nature  through  which  a  progressive  design  is  executed.  There 
is  ceaseless  change.  In  never-ending  succession  nature  weaves 
the  folds  of  its  mighty  web  ;  but  these  arc  '  the  garments  of 
God  by  which  we  see  him,'  the  'vestures'  of  Deity  which 
'  wax  old,'  and  are  folded  and  laid  aside.  There  is  no  terror, 
then,  in  the  majestic  face  of  nature,  —  in  those  still,  endless 
skies,  in  earth  and  ocean,  for  with  Wordsworth  we  can  say 
there  is  — 

"  '  A  presence  that  disturbs  mo  with  the  joy 
Of  elevated  tlioughts ;  a  sense  sublime 
Of  something  far  more  deeply  interfused, 
Whose  dwelling  is  the  light  of  setting  suns, 
And  the  round  ocean  and  the  living  air, 
And  the  blue  sky,  and  in  the  mind  of  man; 
A  motion  and  a  spirit  that  impels 
All  thinking  things,  all  objects  of  all  thought, 
And  rolls  through  all  things.' 

"  And  now,"  continues  our  evolutionist,  "  let  me  submit  to 
you  the  fundamental  principles  on  which  our  system  rests. 
For  ages  no  answer  could  be  given  to  the  question,  How  were 
new  species  of  plants  and  animals  introduced  on  the  stage  of 
being?  They  were  supposed  to  be  suddenly  and  unaccount- 
ably hurled  into  the  midst  of  a  world  which  wns  admittedly 
governed  by  unswerving  laws  and  marked  by  harmonious 
order.  How  organic  forms  came  to  be  what  they  are,  and 
what  were  the  causes  which  produced  their  modifications,  were 
regarded  as  insoluble  mysteries.  Each  species  of  plant  and 
animal  was  said  to  be  the  restilt  of  a  miraculous  creation, 
which  was  but  an  acknowledgment  of  the  mystery.  And  yet 
order  had  been  established  as  existing  in  all  other  departments. 
Newton,  Kepler,  and  La  Place  had  revealed  the  constitution 


WUERE  ARE    WE  AND    WIIITUER    TENDING  t 


53 


and  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  geologists  had 
made  out  the  causes  which  operated  in  the  formation  of  the 
crust  of  the  earth  and  the  configuration  of  its  mountains,  con- 
tinents, seas,  and  rivers.  But  living  things  were  excluded  from 
the  grand  uniformity,  for  the  causes  which  had  made  them  what 
they  are  were  unknown.  Suddenly,  on  the  mind  of  our  great 
master  flashed  a  thought  which  proved,  when  duly  worked  out 
and  tested  by  the  observations  and  experiments  of  twenty  years, 
one  of  those  prolific,  light-imparting  thoughts  which  constitute 
eras  in  the  history  of  science  ;  and  by  it  living  things  have 
been  assigned  their  causes  and  their  place  in  the  order  of  nature. 
This  thought  w.as  expressed  in  the  phrase  '  natural  selection,'  or 
'  the  survival  of  the  fittest,'  resulting  from  the  perpetual  strug- 
gle for  existence  which  is  going  on  in  the  world  of  life.  Dar- 
win saw  that  the  offspring  of  each  pair  of  plants  and  animals  is 
immensely  in  excess  of  the  food  appropriate  to  the  species, 
and  that  for  this  small  modicum  of  food,  as  well  as  for  all 
other  wants  of  their  organization,  a  struggle  takes  place.  In 
this  battle  for  life  tiie  strongest,  and,  therefore,  the  best  fitted  to 
live,  must  be  the  victors  ;  the  weakest  and  those  least  fitted  to 
live,  must  perish.  The  result  is  the  selection  of  the  few  who 
are  best  ([ualified  to  live  and  propagate  their  species,  while  the 
majority  perish  before  reaching  maturity.  But  not  only  are 
the  best  selected  out  of  each  generation,  but  these  favored  ones 
transmit  their  superior  endowments  to  their  offspring,  accord- 
ing to  the  fixed  laws  of  heredity,  such  transmission  being  de- 
pendent on  the  fact  that  the  offs[)ring  of  any  plant  or  animal  is 
only  a  detached  portion  of  the  parent,  — '  a  chip  of  the  old 
block.'  It  follows  that  each  generation  is  somewhat  in  advance 
of  its  predecessor,  as  it  inherits  the  favorable  qualities  which 
have  gained  the  advantage,  and  is  thus  better  ada[)ted  to  its 
surroundings,  and  to  maintain  the  struggle  successfully. 
Whatever  variations  appt-ar,  provided  they  are  beneficial,  nature 
carefully  picks  them  out  and  hands  them  on  to  subscfpient  gen- 
erations. The  young  of  any  species  are  not  all  alike  ;  some  are 
large,  soijic  small,  some  are  weakly  or  the  reverse.  Those 
which  are  vigorous  and  best  fitted  to  obtain  food,  to  struggle 


f     i 

'i 

54 


WHERE  ARE   WE  AND    WniTHER    TENDING  T 


with  competitors  or  to  escape  from  their  enemies,  survive  ;  the 
rest  succumb  and  disappear.  Through  inconceivably  long 
periods  this  struggle  has  gone  on,  leading  to  the  selection  of 
the  fittest  and  the  production,  from  a  few  ancestral  forms,  of 
the  endless  variety  of  plants  and  animals,  each  of  them  being 
better  and  better  fitted  to  their  environments  or  the  outward 
conditions  of  their  lives.  Thus  ever  the  imperfect  passes  while 
the  perfect  advances.  The  lowly  is  transmuted  into  the  loftier. 
All  are  linked  together,  by  descent,  from  one  original  living 
form.  There  is  a  great  family  tree  of  which  the  topmost  twigs 
are  the  present  living  forms,  and  the  common  trunk  the  origi- 
nal ancestor.  But  through  all,  the  law  of  progress  holds  its 
way,  converting  the  lower  organisms  into  the  higher.  In  the 
forcible  language  of  Darwin,  'It  may  be  metaphorically  said  that 
natural  selection  is  daily  and  hourly  scrutinizing  throughout 
the  world  the  slightest  variations,  rejecting  those  that  are  bad, 
preserving  and  adding  up  all  that  are  good,  silently  and  insen- 
sibly working,  whenever  and  wherever  opportunity  offers,  at 
the  improvement  of  each  organic  being  in  relation  to  its  organic 
and  inorganic  conditions  of  life.'  *  We  can  understand,'  he 
says  again,  'how  it  is  that  all  the  forms  of  life,  ancient  and 
recent,  make  together  one  grand  system ;  for  all  are  connected 
by  generation.  From  the  continued  tendency  to  divergence 
the  more  ancient  a  form  is  the  more  goncrally  it  differs  from 
those  now  living.  The  inhabitants  of  each  successive  period  in 
the  world's  history  have  beaten  their  predecessors  in  the  race 
for  life,  and  arc,  in  so  far,  higher  in  the  scale  of  nature.' 

"Now,"  continues  our  evolutionist,  "you  have  a  scientific 
basis  which  cannot  be  shaken  for  the  doctrine  of  progress. 
The  upward  tendency  is  inherent  in  the  very  constitution  of 
things.  Whatever  is  good,  in  the  sense  of  being  favorable 
to  the  well-being  and  permanence  of  any  species,  is  rigidly 
selected,  fixed  by  heredity,  and  thus  made  to  contribute  to 
their  elevation  and  improvement.  On  the  other  hand,  what- 
ever is  unfavorable  is  rejected,  and  by  a  stern,  unrelenting 
competition,  in  which  the  weaker  is  destroyed,  the  existence 
of  a  higher  race  is  secured.     Progress,  therefore,  can   never 


WHERE  ARE   WE  AND    WHITHER   TENDING? 


55 


ific 

of 
ble 


bit- 
ng 
ice 
ver 


be  arrested  finally.     It  may  bo  beaten  back  for  a  time,  but  the 
irresistible  tendency  will,  in  the  long  run,  overcome  all  ob- 
stacles.      Greater  and  greater  elaboration  must  go  on  ;    the 
addition  of  new  and  more  complicated  organs,  giving  to  their 
possessors   increased  powers    to   cope  more   successfully  with 
competitors,  is  the  order  of  nature,  or,  in  other  words,  the 
method  of  the  Supreme  Intelligence  in  the  evolution  of  life. 
Man  is  just  as  truly  subject  to  this  law  as  the  infusoria.     The 
races,  and  the  individuals  composing  the  races  of  the  human 
species,  have  been  subjected  to  the  same  great  law  of  compe- 
tition for  food  and    space    on  the   earth,   with   the   result   of 
continually  winnowing  out  the  feeble  and  the  imperfect,  and 
replacing   them    with    the   comparatively    more    vigorous    and 
nobler,   who  were  better  adapted,  because  of  their  force   and 
intelligence,  to  combat  and  subdue  the  rude  forces  of  nature, 
or,  in  other  words,  to  adjust  themselves,  to  their  surroundings. 
This  competition  for  the  limited  supply  of  good  things,  espe- 
cially in  the  more  desirable  regions  of  the  globe,  led  to  cease- 
less wars,  with  their  attendant   destruction  of  life   in   many 
shapes  ;  and  in  such  conflicts  the  more  powerful  and  intelligent 
gradually  effaced  the  le-ss  vigorous  and  adaptive,  and,  in  their 
turn,  were  obliged  to  succiunb  to   superior  races.     Thus,  in 
prehistoric   times,  the   River  Drift  man  had  to  give  place  to 
the    Cave    man,  who  was   in   turn  wiped    out  by   the   Stone 
and  Bronze  men,  till  the  Aryans  arrived,  long  of  limb   and 
larger  in  brain,  and  civilization   at  length    began   to   assume 
form  and  obtain  a  local  habitation.     Then,  when  the  historical 
ages  arrived,  tho  nations  possessed  of  the  higher  qualities  of 
muscle   and   brain,    of  morals    and    conduct,    were    ever    the 
conquering  races    before  whom  the  inferior  races  went  down. 
The  Egyptians,  Assyrians,  Persians   had  their  day,  and  dis- 
appeared before  the  higher  and   more  favored  Cireeks  and  the 
stern,  law-giving  Romans.      In  the  same  way,  the  finest  of  the 
existing  nations  fought  their  way  to  the  front;  and  those  who 
now  lead  the  van  —  the  German,  French,  Italian,  the  English 
and  Americans  —  have  won  because  they  are  the  rl^tc,  assorted 
by  nature's  great  selective  process,  and  through  sore  conflict 


1^    X 


56 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDING f 


and  the  travail  of  ages  have  been  endowed  with  that  vigor  of 
body  and  mind  to  which  alone  the  prizes  are  awarded. 

Can  we  doubt  that  these  nations  will  be  followed  by  nobler  and 
better,  who  will  conduct  humanity  to  loftier  heights  ?  Nature 
is  not  exhausted  by  the  production  of  German  and  Anglo- 
Saxon  stocks.  Our  nineteenth-century  civilization,  with  its 
eager  pursuit  of  wealth  and  its  sacrifice  of  man  in  the  merciless 
rush,  is  not  nature's  final  effort,  but  only  a  provisional  ar- 
rangement on  which  will  be  reared  a  purer  and  nobler  struct- 
ure. When  we  consider  that  in  the  man-eating  savage  there 
lay  unseen  that  tendency  towards  progressive  development 
out  of  which  has  come  the  wondrous  growth  of  Grecian, 
Roman,  dnd  Christian  civilizations ;  that  in  the  primitive 
man  were  folded  up  the  germs  of  Plato,  Dante,  Michael 
Angelo,  Shakespeare,  Newton,  La  Place  ;  that  in  the  terrible 
wasteful  conflicts  which  marked  the  decline  and  fall  of  the 
Koman  Empire  there  were  embedded  the  seeds  which  have 
borne  such  fruit  in  the  organized,  law-abiding  comnmnities 
which  now  cover  Euro{)e  and  America ;  that  all  that  science 
and  art  linve  now  achieved  are  really  growths  from  faculties 
once  dormant  and  unconscious  in  the  rude  hunters  and  warriors 
whose  relics  now  fill  our  nmseums, — can  we  set  limits  to  the 
power  of  this  })rogressive  development  which  nature  is  ever 
unfolding?  Greater  teachers,  wiser  statesmen,  nobler  philos- 
ophers, i)oets,  and  artists  will  come  after  us,  and  over  the 
buried  dust  of  the  living  generations  will  maich  men  who  have 
gathered  up  the  spoils  of  ages  and  inherited  whatever  is  best  in 
the  develo[)ments  of  the  past,  and  used  them  all  for  the  produc- 
tion of  a  richer  fruitage  of  happiness  than  we  can  now  imagine. 

"This  law  of  progressive  development  through  com})etition 
and  conflict,  suppressing  the  weaker  and  inferior  and  perpetuat- 
ing the  more  caj)able,  applies  to  all  departments  of  human  life. 
The  rude,  primitive  fornjs  of  tribal  government  gave  place  to 
better,  as  society  developed,  because  the  social  organizations 
which  adopted  the  iniproved  methods  were  able  to  subdue  the 
inferior.  The  advantage  was  ever  on  the  side  of  those  who 
were  best  able  to  temper  order  and  fixed  law  with  that  individ- 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER   TENDING? 


57 


ual  liberty  which  is  neecKul  for  inventions  and  improvements. 
Despotism,  aristocracy,  constitutional  monarchy,  self-govern- 
ment were  stages  of  development.  So,  too,  in  every  department 
of  industrial  activity,  trade,  and  commerce,  —  conflict  elimi- 
nated the  less  effective  methods,  the  finest  survived  and  secured 
a  steady  advance.  The  same  holds  good  in  regard  to  religions. 
The  conquering  religions  have  ever  been  supei'ior  to  those 
which  they  subdued  and  effaced.  The  brutal,  degrading  super- 
stitions which  marked  primitive  ages  died  out  before  truer 
views  of  the  universe  and  man ;  and  the  faiths  wliich  incul- 
cated a  purer  morality,  and  allied  themselves  with  reason,  were 
adopted  by  the  nobler  races,  and  increased  their  eftectivc  pow- 
ers. Christianity,  the  teacher  of  the  loftiest  morality  and  the 
noblest  ideas  of  God  and  man,  is  the  religion  of  the  foremost 
nations.  It  proclaims  human  brotherhood  and  that  hope 
for  man's  future  which  is  the  indispensable  condition  of 
sustained  progress.  But  even  Christianity  has  won  through 
conflict,  and  will  continue  to  win  so  long  as  it  develops  to 
meet  and  satisfy  the  growing  aspirations  and  needs  of  a  pro- 
gressive humanity,  and  harmonizes  itself  with  science,  art, 
politics,  and  the  growth  of  reason. 

"And  now,  my  intelligent  friends,"  proceeds  our  philosophic 
enthusiast,  "  to  conclude  my  exposition,  ])ermit  me  to  say  that 
I  am  well  aware  the  doctrine  1  have  been  trying  to  establish 
api)ear8  to  many  harsh  and  even  revolting,  and  that  some  seem 
driven  by  it  to  pessimism,  and  in  view  of  the  sufferings  and 
even  horrors  connected  with  man's  course  on  earth,  pronounce 
the  whole  a  blun<ler,  and  declare  that  'life  is  not  worth 
living.'  Others  declare  it  'a  maze  without  a  plan,'  —  a  blind, 
mechanical  process  without  an  intelligent  jiurpose.  I  have 
endeavored  to  show  that  througli  pain,  struggle,  and  destruc- 
tion, noble  ends  are  worked  out,  and  that  the  results  will,  in 
the  long  run,  justify  the  cost.  Further,  I  have  tried  to  ])rove 
that  the  transmutation  of  evil  into  relative  good,  and  the 
gradual  elevation  of  our  race  thus  attained,  intimate  a  Supreme 
Intelligence  originating  and  guiding  the  whole  development. 
Why  such  a  method  of  working  has  been  followed  is  a  problem 


i 


m 


r 


M 


58 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WniTIIER   TENDING  t 


which  human  intelligence  cannot  at  present  solve,  anrl  one 
which  will  probably  ever  be  relegated  to  the  region  of  the 
unknowable.  Why  the  favored  race  should  destroy  the  less 
favored,  or,  at  least,  expel  it,  or,  under  penalty  of  death,  force 
it  to  confirm  to  the  altered  conditions,  is  a  mystery,  but  no  less 
a  fact  of  nature  and  of  history.  It  is  the  law  of  life  among 
plants  and  animals,  and  all  the  records  of  the  past  tell  us  that 
it  has  been  the  law  among  the  races  of  men.  If  we  want  to 
reach  truth  and  fact  we  nuist  get  rid  of  all  hysterical  tenden- 
cies, all  emotional  disturbances,  and  regard  things  as  they  are. 
We  may  shudder  at  war,  cannibalism,  and  savage  conflicts  ;  but 
through  these  have  come  social  organizations,  and  all  that 
adorns  civilized  societies.  I  admit  all  the  harshness  and  seem- 
ing cruelty  of  the  process.  I  see  nature  utterly  reckless  of 
the  interests  of  the  many  in  order  that  a  few  select  ones  may 
prosper.  Vast  multitudes  arc  produced  in  order  that  a  few  of 
the  best  may  be  chosen,  while  the  rest  perish.  Nature,  in  fact, 
is  a  ruthless  aristocrat, — careless  of  the  masses,  careful  to 
pamper  the  few  on  the  destruction  of  the  many.  A  million  are 
called  into  existence  in  order  that  a  few  hundreds  may  survive 
and  flourish  at  their  expense  and  by  their  extermination.  What 
arc  wo  to  say  of  the  sufferings  of  the  weaker  to  minister  to 
the  existence  of  an  oli<;archv  of  the  stronger,  Avho  in  turn  will 
be  driven  to  the  Avail  before  a  still  stronger  body  of  the  elite? 
The  one  law  pervades  all  animated  existences  ;  and,  among  men, 
the  stronjjer  way-e  war  aijainst  tlie  weaker,  the  more  civilized 
exterminate  the  less  civilized  races.  The  cunninij,  the  coura- 
geous,  the  more  gregarious  push  aside  those  who  are  wanting 
in  valor,  discipline  and  combination.  Even  religions  have 
had  to  adopt  '  the  wager  of  battle,'  and  the  most  awful  of 
human  conflicts  have  residtcd  from  the  warring  of  opposing 
faiths,  religious  wai's  being  of  all  others  the  most  ruthless. 
Prodigality,  not  economy,  is  the  method  of  nature  in  the  world 
of  life.  Lavish  production  is  followed  by  pitiless  carnage. 
Sensitive  organisms,  to  be  sacrificed  through  suffering,  are  pro- 
duced with  an  infinite  profusion.  Destruction  of  millions 
makes  room  for  more  destruction.     The  rock  formations  under 


WnERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER   TENDINOt 


59 


our  feet  are  to  a  great  extent  built  up  from  the  fossilized  skele- 
ton remains  of  creatures  who,  through  countless  ages,  preyed 
on  each  other,  and  the  never-ending  conflict  goes  on  to-day 
with  the  same  unrelenting  ferocity.  All  this  is  undeniable,  and 
much  of  it  must  ever  remain  an  inexplicable  mystery. 

"  But  when  we  come  to  take  a  comprehensive  view  of  the 
whole,  conflict  and  suffering  assume  a  very  different  aspect. 
Out  of  the  great  agony  nature  is  slowly  evolving  a  better 
order  of  things,  and  an  improved  human  condition,  from  which 
the  most  revolting  features  are  gradually  eliminated.  From 
that  very  conflict  come  growth  and  organization  and  a  devel- 
opment of  all  the  po\vers,  —  stronger  limbs,  keener  senses, 
a  more  delicate  and  sensitive  nervous  system.  Tiie  flight  and 
pui'suit,  with  death  as  the  penalty  of  failure,  has  strengthened 
and  developed  organisms,  and  contributed  to  progress.  The 
struggle,  no  doubt,  is  sanguinary ;  but  the  removal  of  the 
weaker  and  less  perfect  secures  the  'survival  of  the  fittest.'  The 
cost  is  vast,  the  products  estimated  by  it  are  infinitely  precious. 
Pligher  capacities  of  enjoyment  arc  the  results  ;  and  in  man,  — 
civilized,  a  being  who  is  acquiring  gradually  greater  mas- 
tery over   the   forces    of  nature    through    his    cver-increasinir 

»-  OCT 

knowledge  of  its  laws,  and,  consequently,  greater  power  over 
the  conditions  of  happiness,  —  we  see  the  noblest  product. 
Out  of  the  cruel  ferocity  of  the  savage  are  slowly  evolved  that 
pity,  tenderness,  and  compassion  which  condemn  all  cruelty 
and  help  to  alleviate  all  suffering.  Justice,  truth,  compassion, 
benevolence,  love,  —  all  that  beautifies  and  blesses  our  present 
social,  civilized  life, —  have  sprung  out  of  the  dark  conflicts  of  the 
past.  These  merciful  and  kindly  syinpatiiies  arc  now  so  fixed 
by  heredity  in  our  nature,  and  so  certain  to  expand  and  increase 
in  force,  that  they  give  ])romise  of  the  time  when  conflict  shall 
cease,  and  the  powers  of  man  shall  be  devoted  to  the  preser- 
vation of  his  kind,  and  their  elevation  in  intelligence  and 
enjoyment.  These  benevolent  sentiments  have  now  been  so 
orijanized  in  the  hi<Ther  races  that  they  are  characterized  as 
'  the  spirit  of  humanity,'  and  they  lead  to  the  stronger  earing 
for  and  helping  the  weaker. 


llili 


r 


60  WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    nUITHER   TENDING  t 

"Thus,  man  is  ever  — 

"  '  Striving  upward,  working  out  the  beast, 
And  lets  the  ape  and  tiger  die.' 

"Doubtless  wc  sec  still  manifold  'survivals'  of  the  beast  and 
savage  in  our  lives  and  social  institutions ;  but  the  merciful  and 
generous  en^otions  are  gathering  force  and  acquiring  a  pre- 
dominating influence.  True  it  is  the  records  of  the  world  of 
life  arc  tragic  in  the  extreme  ;  but  in  man,  the  last  term  of  the 
series,  we  see  pity,  sympathy,  love,  reverence  replacing  the 
savage  instincts  ;  and  who  will  say  that  the  grandeur  of  the 
results  docs  not  justify  the  means  and  infinitely  surpass  the 
cost  through  which  it  has  been  purchased? 

"And  now,  finally,  do  you  ask  what,  in  view  of  all  these 
facts  and  inductions  from  them,  is  my  credo?  I  answer,  I  see 
an  immutable  order  pervading  nature,  or  rather  constituting  the 
very  idea  of  nature,  and  a  unity  which,  to  me,  are  conclusive 
proofs  of  a  Supreme  Intelligence,  —  of  an  ever-present  mind  in 
nature,  and  this  the  mind  of  God.  I  sec  one  great  purpose 
working  to  an  end,  on  a  scale  of  stupendous  magnitude,  worthy 
of  our  highest  conceptions  of  Deity.  In  the  constancy  of 
nature's  laws  I  recognize  a  directive  influence  unvarying  in  its 
operations.  My  highest  conception  of  it  is  partial  and  inade- 
quate ;  but  I  discern  its  reality  in  the  immutably  connected 
order  which  pervades  nature  —  an  order  which  emanates  from 
God  and  would  be  non-existent  without  Him.  I  stand  in  awe 
and  reverence  before  this  '  Inscrutable  Power '  whose  nature 
and  mode  of  existence  and  operation  transcend  my  imagina- 
tion ;  and  I  feel  that  I  dimly  discern  but  '  parts  of  Ilis  ways ' 
and  '  Ilis  thoughts  which  are  not  as  our  thoughts  ; '  but  in  llis 
process  of  creation,  through  evolution,  I  reverently  recognize 
that '  in  Ilim  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  beinir.'  In  rec- 
ognition  of  His  laws,  and  adaptation  of  my  life  to  them,  I 
discern  that  my  happiness  and  safety  lie.  Nature  is  Ilis  ordi- 
nance, and  its  laws  are  among  the  laws  of  God.  Tiie  reons  of 
time,  during  which  the  globe  and  its  inhabitants  have  been 
traversing  their  changes,  arc  millenniums  in  the   life-time  of 


iRi 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WIIITUER  TENDING  t 


61 


Him  with  whom  *  a  thousand  years  arc  as  one  day.'  My  own 
being  is  inseparably  connected  with  the  Power  whose  operations 
I  discern  within  me,  as  well  as  around  me.  I  cannot  separate 
myself  from  Ilim.  In  conformity  with  His  ways  my  well- 
being  consists  ;  and  in  the  contemplation  of  the  glories  and 
mysteries  of  his  creation  I  find  a  beatific  vision  whose  over- 
whelming greatness  fills  me  with  awe  and  wonder.  From  it  I 
gather  hope  and  confidence.  This,  friends,  is  the  credo  of  an 
evolutionist.  —  Vale/" 

We  have  now  given  a  patient  hearing  to  the  evolutionist ;  < 
and  considering  the  appreciative  reception  accorded  to  his  doc- 
trine, in  these  days,  it  is  well  to  understand  its  natiu'c  and 
bearings.  That  its  influence  is  widely  felt  in  all  departments 
of  human  thought  cannot  be  denied.  Whether  its  teachings 
be  true  or  fallacious  it  would  be  beside  our  present  purpose  to 
iuquire.  As  time  rolls  on,  whatever  is  true  in  the  doctrine 
of  evolution  will  be  separated  from  the  false  and  imperfect, 
and  will  be  harmonized  with  other  truths  of  science  and  religion. 
We  can  patiently  wait  with  suspended  judgments.  This  much, 
however,  should,  I  think,  be  frankly  admitted,  that  the  chUrgc 
of  atheism  does  not  apply  to  evolution  ;  that,  even  if  its  doc- 
trines were  true,  they  would  not  shake  belief  in  the  grandest  of 
all  truths, — the  existence  of  God.  The  imaginary  expounder 
of  the  system,  to  whom  we  have  given  audience,  has  honestly 
stated  its  bearings  on  this  vital  question ;  and  it  must  be 
allowed  he  is  a  consistent  theist.  He  holds  that  a  knowl- 
edge of  nature  is  a  knowledge  of  God,  as  discovered  by  nature, 
and  that  her  laws  are  His  ordinance.  It  is  true  such  a  view 
of  God  falls  far  short  of  that  presented  by  Christianity,  which 
declares  Him  to  be  Love,  and  his  relation  to  us  that  of  a 
Father.  Still,  the  evolutionist  truly  believes  in  a  God,  sub- 
lime, awful,  distant,  even  glorious,  mysteriously  working  out  a 
purpose  which,  through  the  discipline  of  pain  and  struggle, 
leads  on  to  a  happier  and,  possibly,  a  perfect  condition.  The 
evolutionist's  view  of  the  universe  is  hopeful  and  encouraging. 
He  believes  that  men  are  to  be  made  happier  and  better,  and 
that  while  "  the  stream  of  tendency '"  is  in  that  direction,  we, 


m 


I 


02 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHIT  HER    TEXDTXOt 


i;  ! 


by  conscious  effort,  in  conformity  with  nature's  laws,  iielp 
forward  the  consummation.  This  is  no  dark,  paralyzing  view 
of  human  life,  calculated  to  produce  cynicism,  indifference,  or 
despair.  Nor  is  it  the  fatalism  which  leads  to  languor  from 
a  conviction. that  effort  is  powerless  to  bring  about  improve- 
ments. On  the  contrary,  it  breathes  coumge  and  invites  to 
effort.  It  does  not  explain  away  the  existence  of  pain  and 
evil  any  more  than  theology  ;  but  it  shows  a  tendency  ever 
working  towai'ds  the  better  and  the  happier,  .and  mininuzing  the 
evil.  Nature  is  no  mere  n)alignant,  murderous  power  with 
which  we  are  combating,  and  to  which  wc  must  yield  at  last ; 
but  a  deep-laid  framework,  ever  bringing  forth  new  and  bene- 
ficial contrivances,  and  working  towards  goodness  and  happi- 
ness. No  amount  of  failures  can  ever  permanently  arrest  the 
operations  of  this  deep-built  purpose  towards  an  improved  con- 
dition. Mankind  may  be  beaten  back  again  and  again,  but 
the  battle  will  be  I'cstored,  and  the  victory  is  certain.  Whatever 
is  best  and  noblest  in  humanity  is  the  latest  development  of  this 
stream  of  tendency  towards  the  good  and  the  happy.  The  path 
by  ^hich  the  great  consummation  is  reached  is  admittedly  dark. 
Through  rough  and  blood-stained  ways  man  has  had  to  struggle 
upward.  l>ut  a  small  part  of  the  host  have  yet  reached  firm 
and  favorable  ground.  Still,  these  are  the  victorious  van,  and 
the  great  body  will  follow.  Such  is  the  evolutionist's  creed ; 
and,  though  imperfect  and  wanting  the  deeper  views  which 
Christianity  unfolds,  let  us  welcome  in  its  teachings  whatever  is 
true  and  good,  and  wait  the  further  light  which  science,  in  its 
beneficent  labors,  may  be  able  to  impart.  It  may  be  true  that 
the  views  it  enunciates  appear  to  "  withdraw  the  veil  of  enchant- 
ment from  nature,"  to  blot  the  rainbow  out  of  heaven,  even  to 
desecrate  human  nature.  But  may  it  not  be  that  all  this  feeling 
is  caused  simply  by  the  change  in  our  mode  of  looking  at  nature 
which  science  has  made,  and  that  the  transition  period  will  soon 
pass  away  ;  and  then  we  shall  be  able  to  regard  the  great 
cosmos  with  other  eyes,  to  rejoice  in  the  beauties  and  harmonies 
disclosed  by  science,  and  to  feel  what  the  poet  expresses  when 
he  tells  us  that  — 


p ' 


r 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER   TENDING  f 


G3 


»g 


!n 


••  Nature  bents  in  pcrfi-ct  tunc, 

And  rounds  with  rliyiiu;  lit-r  every  rune; 
Wlu'tlier  she  work  on  land  or  eca, 
Or  liidc  under  (ground  her  alelieiny, 
Thou  canst  not  wave  tliy  staff  in  air, 

Or  dip  tiiy  paddh;  in  the  hike, 
lUit  it  carves  tlie  how  ot'heauty  tiicre, 

And  ripples  in  rhyme  tlio  oar  forsake." 

May  it  not  be,  after  all,  that  evolution  has  merely  expressed, 
in  scientific  form,  what  Shakespeare  saw  when,  with  Hashing, 
poetic  eyes,  he  looked  into  the  depths  of  human  life,  and  inter- 
preting what  he  finely  calls, 

"  The  prophetic  soul 
Of  the  wide  world  dreaming  on  things  to  come," 

discerned  "  there  is  some  soul  of  goodness  in  all  thinirs  evil  "  ? 
There  is  a  profound  depth  of  meaning  in  these  simple  words. 
Wordsworth  has  elaborated  the  same  thought,  when  ho  says,  — 

**  'Tis  nature's  law 
That  none,  the  meanest  of  created  things,  ^ 

Of  forms  created  the  most  vile  and  brute, 
•  The  dullest  or  most  noxious,  should  exist 

Divorced  from  good,  —  a  spirit  and  pulse  of  good, 
A  life  and  soul,  to  every  mode  of  being 
Inseparably  linked.     Then  be  assured 
That  least  of  all  can  aught  that  ever  owned 
The  heaven-regarding  eye,  and  front  sublime. 
Which  man  is  born  to,  sink,  howc'er  depressed, 
So  low  as  to  be  scorned  without  a  sin ; 
Without  offence  to  God  cast  out  of  view." 

The  evolutionist  discerns  the  same  "  soul  of  goodness  in  all 
things  evil,"  and  names  it  "survival  of  the  fittest."  In  "forms 
most  vile  and  brute,  the  dullest  and  most  noxious,''  he  reads 
the  dim  prophecies  of  the  nobler  and  more  beautifid  forms 
which,  at  a  far-off  day,  will  be  developed  from  these,  through 
the  cver-active  "soul  of  goodness."  He  sees  the  past  in  the 
present,  and  the  germs  of  a  nobler  future  in  what  now  exists. 
In  the  best  generations  of  men  now  living  he  discovers  the 
summing  up  of  all  past  generations,  with  the  noxious  qualities 


i 


. 


\  If 


64' 


Wr/ERE  ARE    WE  A.Vn    WIHTIIER    TENDING f 


lc8fl('nc(l   or  partially  fliniiiuitcd.  and  the  best  preserved  and 
combined  anew. 

In  the  best  institutions,  the  wisest  laws,  the  most  benevolent 
orji^anizations  for  the  elevation  of  the  raec,  he  beholds  the  full 
development  of  what  were  once  rude,  lowly,  imperfect  or 
revolting.  The  "soul  of  goodness"  truly  existed  "in  the 
things  evil,"  and  transmuted  them  into  good. 

In  all  humanity's  poor  gro|)ings  and  blunderings  in  the  past 
there  was  some  redeeming  virtue,  —  something  not  wholly  bad 
underlying  the  evil, — some  truth  at  the  root  of  every  error. 
Slowly  the  falsities  and  mistakes  died  out  as  the  light  of 
knowledge  increased.  It  is  this  "soul  of  ffoodness  in  all  thinjjs 
evil"  which  gives  assurance  of  human  progress,  ever  trans- 
muting the  bad  and  imperfect  into  something  better.  Even 
war,  with  all  its  brutalities  and  cruelties,  gave  rise  to  chivalry, 
unflinching  courage,  and  unsullied  honor.  Nay  more,  the  very 
miseries  of  war  awoke  [)ity  and  compassion  for  the  sufferers, 
and  brought  them  help  and  comfort ;  and  kindled,  too,  that  spirit 
which  condemns  all  war,  and  will  usher  in  one  day  the  age  of 
peace.  The  yiiseries  of  slavery  kindled  the  spirit  of  freedom. 
The  crimes  and  vices  and  consequent  wretchedness  of  men 
have  given  rise  to  that  "  enthusiasm  of  humanity  "  which  rises 
in  its  might  and  goes  foi'th  to  labor  for  their  removal.  The 
revelations  regarding  "Horrible  London,"  and  other  great 
cities,  have  roused  a  spirit  of  active  philanthropy  which  will 
not  subside  till  a  better  condition  is  established.  So  with  every 
other  reform,  —  it  springs  out  of  the  very  evils  which  it  would 
abolish.  It  is  only  because  we  do  not  look  close  enough  that 
we  fail  to  see  this  "soul  of  goodness  in  things  evil." 

I  have  read  somewhere  the  followinj;  legend  :  "  A 
youth  was  caught  up  in  the  air  by  an  angel,  vif' 
floated  over  ihe  world  that  he  might  see  th( 
angel  went  too  near  the  stars  for  him.  '  Let 
the  youth,  'for  1  love  the  earth.'  The  angel  went  lower,  near 
enough  for  him  to  see  the  outlines  of  continents.  '  Luwer  yet,' 
said  the  youth,  *  I  love  the  smell  of  the  earth,  its  scented  trees 
and  grass,  and  the  bright  ships  ;  the  fishermen  are  dearer  to  me 


go  low 


T' 

Tl 

eaia 


l!  .■■ 


WHERE  ARt:    }VE  ASD    WtllT/IER    rENDLWO  f 


65 


than  lu'iniMpheivs  ami  contincutsi.'  So  the  aiif^cl  went  lower 
Htill.  lint  now  tlu'y  saw  »a(l  Hccncs  :  a  poor  slave  and  hi8  wife 
jxirwiu'tl  l)y  l)l()(»(l-lionn(l8  ;  they  saw  tlieni  |)liinge  in  the  river, 
hand  in  hand,  to  find  freedom  in  death.  'I'liey  saw  an  army 
l)esiej;in<^  a  eity  ;  nhot  and  HJieil  hore  death  anionic  women 
kneelinj^  with  babes  in  tiieir  arms.  The  eity  talis  ;  the  survi- 
vors are  given  over  to  the  ernelty  and  Inst  of  the  vietorions 
soldiery.  They  saw  the  dens  of  cities  where  the  iuunan  image 
is  seared  out  of  men  and  women  by  vice.  And  now  the  young 
nian's  wings  began  to  droop.  'O  angi'l  ! '  he  ericd,  in  a  voice 
broken  with  sobs,  'higher,  higher.  I  have  seen  enough,  —  too 
nnich  ;  let  us  soar  higher.' —  'Nay,  not  so,'  replied  the  angel; 
'  thou  hast  seen  not  loo  nmeli,  but  tt)o  little  ;  we  must  go  h)wer.' 
Then,  lowering  their  wings,  they  skimmed  the  earth  like  swal- 
lows, and  they  saw  men  and  women  coming  from  far  and  near, 
to  break  every  fetter  of  the  slaves  whose  cry  they  had  heard  ; 
they  saw  hovering  near  the  j)illaged  city  a  host  with  white  ban- 
ners, binding  up  the  wounded,  warring  upon  war  :  and  amid 
the  dens  of  vice  they  saw  busy  workers  building  schools,  asy- 
lums, hospitals  ;  nay,  even  among  the  wretched  and  vile  they 
foun<l  many  heroically  vanquishing  the  dangers  and  temptations 
of  their  hard  lot ;  and,  coming  closer  still,  saw  tints  of  kindness 
and  feeling  in  tainted  hearts,  and  in  all  the  hojjc  and  prophecy 
of  a  fairer  destiny.  And  as  the  youth  thus  saw  '  the  soul  of 
goodness  in  things  evil,'  he  dried  the  hot  tears  which  had  been 
rolling  down  his  cheeks,  and  felt  comforted.'' ' 

And  as  we  feel,  at  times,  upon  our  hearts  the  burden  of  the 
world's  vast  misery,  — all  its  sins  and  sorrows,  —  as  we  are  sad- 
dened at  "  man's  inhumanity  to  man,"  and  the  countless  "ills 
that  flesh  is  heir  to,"  let  us  not  overlook  "  the  soul  of  goodness  " 
underlying  all,  and  the  love  which  lies  deep  in  the  heart  of  the 
world.     This  will  save  us  from  apathy,  or  despair  of  our  race  :  — 


l^f' 


'  I  say  to  thee,  do  tliou  repeat 
To  the  first  man  that  thou  shalt  meet, 
In  lane,  Ijighway,  or  open  street,  — 


*  Earthwaiil  Pilgrimage. 


■ 


11 


j|  N''' 


G6  WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDING t 

That  he  anil  wc,  and  all  men,  move 

Under  a  canopy  of  love 

A 8  broad  as  the  blue  sky  above; 

"  That  doubt  and  trouble,  fear  and  pain, 
And  anguish,  — these  are  shadows  vain,  — 
That  death  itself  sliall  not  remain ; 

*'  And,  ere  thou  leave  him  say  tiiou  this, 
Yet  one  thinf^  more;  they  only  miss 
The  speedy  winning  of  that  l)liss,  — 

"Who  will  not  count  it  true,  tliat  love, 
Blcssinjif,  not  cursing,  rules  al)ove ; 
And  tiiat  in  this  we  live  and  move. 

"  And  one  tiling  furtlier  :  let  him  know 
That  to  believe  these  things  are  so. 
This  tirni  faitii  never  to  forego  — 

"  In  spit^f  all  that  seems  at  strife 
With  MoSsing,  all  with  cursing  rife, — 
That  tliis  is  blessing,  this  is  life." 

« 

1  bcliovo  the  recognition  of  these  great  truths  is  deepening 

antl  widening  daily.  Their  influence  is  now  more  protbundly 
felt  than  ever  before,  and  marks  a  stage  of  human  [jrogress. 
The  tender  humanities,  bringing  pity  and  help  to  the  lowly,  the 
outcast,  the  weak,  and  the  unfortunate,  are  more  widely  diffused  ; 
and  this  alone  constitutes  an  immense  stride  in  advance  on 
former  ages.  The  spirit  of  brotherhood  is  growing,  —  that 
spirit  which  says,  — 

"  There  is  no  great,  there  is  no  small, 
To  the  Soul  that  maketh  all,"— 

that  spirit  which  finds  in  man,  however  lowly  or  seemingly 
lost,  the  germs  of  infinite  possibilities.  Scorn,  hatred,  con- 
tempt for  a  brother  man  however  fallen,  for  a  sisler  woman  how- 
ever degraded, — these  are  felt  to  be  the  offspring  of  pride  and 
selfishness,  not  of  that  love  which  embraces  all.  These  wider 
and  more  charitable  views  of  human  life  come  partly,  at  least, 
from  an  enlarged  knowledge  of  man's  nature  on  the  one  hand, 
and  on  the  other  from  the  circmustances  and  necessities  within 


\  -J 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDING  t 


67 


which  he  must  act.  Thoy  lead  us,  in  judgini";,  to  distinguish  be- 
tween wrong  and  the  wrong-doer;  and  while  bhuning  the  evil, 
not  to  hate  or  rave  hysterically  against  the  doer  of  it.  Frailty, 
weakness,  passion,  must  not  be  confounded  with  deliberate 
villany.  Sympathy  will  lead  us  to  suggest  excuses  and  apolo- 
gies for  the  faults,  follies,  and  frailties  we  see  around  us;  and 
in  the  midst  of  transgressions,  to  look  for  what  is  lovable  .ind 
human,  rather  than  their  opposites.  What  is  this  but  the 
charity  which  "  hidcth  a  nudtitude  of  sins"?  Hood  has  given 
us  a  fine  illustration  of  this  in  his  "  Bridge  of  Sighs,"  as  he  looks 
on  the  poor  suicide  drawn  from  the  river,  and  while  "  owning 

her  weakness,  her  evil  behavior,"  he  bids  us,  — 

I 

"  Touch  her  not  gcornfully, 
Think  of  her  mournfully, 

Gently  and  humanly ; 
Not  of  iho  stains  of  liei*; 
All  that  remains  of  her 

Now  is  pure  womanly. 
Make  no  deep  scrutiny 
Into  her  mutiny 

Hash  and  iindutiful ;  , 

Past  all  dishonor, 
Death  has  left  on  her 

Only  tlie  beautiful." 

This  is  no  weak  tampering  with  wrong-doing,  or  effacipg  the 
differences  between  virtue  and  vice  ;  but  it  is  a  shrinking  fn»m 
the  harsh  condemnation  of  an  erring  sister,  and  the  leavinjj:  of 
the  judgment  to  One  who  made  the  heart,  and  knows  all  its 
weaknesses  and  temptations.     Therefore,  says  the  poet,  — 

"  Cross  her  hands  humbly, 
As  if  praying::  dumbly, 

Over  her  i)reast; 
Owning  her  weakness, 
^  Iler  evil  l)ehavior, 

And  leiivinix,  in  meekness. 
Her  sins  to  licr  Saviour." 

Such  charitable  judgments  of  our  fellow-creatures  find  their 
justification  in  the  new  truths  which  science  has  brought  to 
li<rht  in  connection  with  the  laws  of  hcreditv.     These  teach 


il 


1 


it 


r 


I! 


■ 


II 


ri: 


I  r 


68 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHIT  HER   TENDING  t 


US  that  the  inherited  or<i;anization8,  the  instincts  and  tendenciea, 
which  have  come  to  us  from  remote  and  forgotten  an(;e6tor8, 
nay,  the  race  whose  blood  flows  in  our  veins,  and  tiie  country 
and  climate  in  whicii  we  were  born,  must  all  be  taken  account 
of  as  important  elements  in  forming  o'lr  judgments  of  our  fel- 
low-mortals. We  had  not  the  choosing  of  any  or  all  of 
these,  and  yet  how  largely  they  shape  our  destiny !  They 
form  a  link  which  no  man  has  ever  yet  broken.  The  case 
would  be  diflPorent  if  we  had  possessed  a  voice  in  selecting  the 
ingredients  which  go  to  form  our  manhood  and  make  us  what 
we  are.  But  we  had  no  hand  in  putting  ourselves  together. 
Our  intellectual  powers  were  gifts,  not  attainments,  and  on 
these  depend  largely  success  or  failure,  wealth  or  poverty. 
Our  creed  depended  on  the  family,  the  country,  the  time  in 
which  we  were  born  ;  our  morality  very  largely  on  our  early 
training.  And  who  has  had  a  choice  in  these?  Culture,  will, 
self-help,  do  something,  but  within  narrow  limits ;  for  the 
circumstances  of  our  outward  lot,  which  are  determined  for 
us,  decide  whether  we  shall  be  liorn  in  a  hovel  or  a  palace  ; 
whether  toil  shall  be  our  lot  or  comparative  wealth  and  leisure. 
One  in  ten  thousand,  like  Burns  or  Franklin,  may  have  the 
mental  and  physical  force  to  break  through  these  outward 
circumstances  and  soar  above  them,  but  the  great  majority 
are  imprisoned  in  thcnj.  And  what  are  these  barriers  which 
encircle  us  but  just  the  eternal  laws  which  we  have  to  under- 
stand and  obey,  and  in  them  we  find  our  real  freedom?  To 
unite  our  feeble  force  to  theirs  will  multiply  it  indefinitely. 
To  work  in  conformity  with  the  great  unfailing  purpose  which 
pervades  the  universe  is  to  secure  true  happiness.  Nature  is 
commanded  by  obedience.  And  feeling,  at  the  same  time, 
that  we  can  claim  no  merit,  that  we  have  nothing  but  what 
we  have  received,  that  we  can  take  no  credit  for  good  actions, 
we  get  rid  of  pride  and  egotism,  and  learn  humility. 

So,  too,  we  learn  charity  in  judging  even  of  the  worst  wrong- 
doers. We  ask,  \V  hat  were  their  surroundings  ?  what  their  moral 
training?  what  their  ancestry ?  what  poisoned  instincts?  what 
morbid  hereditary  tendencies,  from  a  long  line  of  degenerate 


i>  > 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WIIITIIER   TENDING  t 


69 


ancestors,  may  thoy  not  liave  been  hcira  to?  They  are  the 
necessary  outcome,  it  may  be,  of  antecedent  malformations ; 
and  therefore  we  pity,  but  cannot  scorn  or  hate  tiiem.  Re- 
straint may  be  necessary,  —  as  in  the  case  of  the  tiger,  — and 
punishment,  in  order  to  reform  and  to  protect  society  ;  but  we 
are  not  more  virtuous  for  hating  or  spurning  them.  AVe 
should  pity  and  try  to  hel[)  and  save.  And,  if  we  have  been 
born  to  a  happier  lot  and  a  healthier  organization  and  a  more 
favorable  cultun;,  this  should  lead  us  to  gentle  and  charitable 
judgments.  The  law  of  cause  and  effect  holds  sway  in  every 
department  of  human  life,  including  that  of  conduct.  Let  us 
remember  that  development  from  the  lower  to  the  higher  is 
the  "  increasing  pur[)08e  "  which  runs  through  the  ages  ;  and 
that  the  rcsponsihility  of  such  an  arrangement  rests  not  with 
the  finite,  but  the  infinite.  This  should  modify  our  judgments 
of  others,  even  when  they  go  far  astray,  and  save  us  from 
harshness  and  condemnation.  We,  too,  shall  stand  in  need 
of  charity's  gentle  judgment  at  the  last,  and  the  best  of  us 
will  recjuire  nuich  to  be  forgiven.  There  is  a  deep  and  true 
meaning  —  true  in  science,  as  well  as  in  poetry  —  in  Burns' 
touching  words  :  — 

"  Then  gently  srnn  your  brother  man, 

Still  jjiMitliT  sister  woiuiin  ; 
For  though  tliey  iiiiiy  gang  ii'  kcnnin'  wrang, 

To  stop  aside  is  human. 
One  i)oint  must  still  be  greatly  dark, 

Tlie  moving  why  thoy  do  it : 
And  just  as  lamely  can  ye  mark. 

How  far,  j)orhiij)s,  tlioy  rue  it. 

"  Who  made  the  heart  'tis  He  alone 

Decidedly  can  try  us  ; 
lie  knows  oacii  chord, — its  various  tone, 

Each  spring,  —  its  various  l)ias  : 
Then  at  the  halaiico  lot's  be  mute, 

We  never  can  adjust  it; 
What's  done  wo  partly  may  compute, 

But  know  not  what's  resisted." 

We  may,  then,  jnstly  welcome  the  increasing  spread  of  those 
humane  sentiments  as  a  proof  of  the  moral  progress  of  our  racC' 


itl 


, 


1 1 


a 


*ri' 


70 


WHERE  ARE   WE  AND    WniTHER   TENDING  f 


These  "  fair  humanities "  may  be  as  yet  confined  to  the  elite 
of  the  elite  of  humanity ;  but  they  are  spreading.  They  are 
the  spring  flowers,  but  the  summer  and  its  fruitage  will  follow. 
Their  effect  must  be  to  bring  wise  help,  tender  sympathy  to  the 
weak,  the  struggling,  the  fallen ;  and  thus  to  aid  in  the 
advancement  and  elevation  of  man.  And,  be  it  remembered, 
all  these  ^gentler  and  tenderer  feelings  are  a  gi'owth  of  that 
human  nature  which  was  once  so  crude  and  savage,  —  a  legiti- 
mate development  from  germs  which  were  once  latent.  Here 
is  a  revelation  of  a  moral  order  pervading  nature  ;  for  our 
humanity  is  a  growth  of  nature,  —  its  latest  and  best  product. 
The  pessimist  dwells  on  the  savage  heartlcssncss  of  nature,  on 
the  blind  operation  of  its  merciless,  pitiless  laws.  But  what 
do  we  make  of  it,  that  from  the  pitiless  comes  pity?  "Out  of 
the  eater  comes  forth  meat,  and  from  the  strong  sweetness." 
Nature's  laws  have  evolved  those  institutions  which  tend  to 
establish  justice  and  secure  the  rights  of  all.  Under  its  laws 
all  our  benevolent  societies,  which  devote  themselves  to  the  dis- 
covery and  relief  of  human  miseiy,  the  removal  of  ignorance 
and  vice,  and  all  evils  which  o[)press  and  desti'oy,  have  had 
their  origin.  Our  churches,  missions,  charities,  are  truly  an 
outcome  of  humanity,  and  therefore  of  nature.  All  the  love 
and  pity  of  the  whole  human  family,  which,  through  past  ages 
have  been  accunndating  and  embodying  themselves  in  religious 
and  reformatory  institutions,  must  be;  taken  into  account  when 
we  form  our  estimate  of  nature  and  its  tendencies.  Not  merely 
in  the  hurricane,  the  cartliquake  or  the  pestilence  are  we  to 
read  the  character  and  purpose  of  the  Supreme  Intelligence,  but 
also  in  "  the  compassion  we  feel  one  for  another,"  in  the  love 
which  He  has  breathed  into  human  hearts  to  beautify  and  bless 
our  life,  and  redress  and  remove  <ts  sufferings.  We  are  to 
read  the  character  of  (iod  not  onl^  n  the  seemingly  inhuman 
powers  that  play  around  us  nnd  often  make  us  their  victims,  in 
the  diseases  that  pny  uj)(»n  us,  but,  also,  in  those  grand  dis- 
closures of  science  which  convert  these  forces  into  ministering 
angels,  or  enable  us  to  evade  their  injurious  operations.  And 
when  we  think  of  the  horrors   of  war  let  us  remember  that 


■! ;;, 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDING  t 


71 


Florence  Nightingale,  and  thousands  like  her,  came  as  mani- 
festations of  the  tender  pity  whieli  dwells  in  the  Divine  Source 
of  nature  ;  and  that  the  evolution  of  the  Howards  of  our  race 
declares  that  there  is  in  nature  something  hcyond  a  mere  pas- 
sionless, pitiless  force. 

There  is  a  further  consideration.  This  love  of  humanity  and 
its  accompanying  kindness,  which  .ire  evolved  in  the  course  of 
social  progress,  are  increasing  in  power  and  efficiency.  There 
is  more  of  the  "  enthusiasm  of  humanity  "  in  the  world  now 
than  ever  before  ;  and  it  is  grappling  more  c(jurageously  than 
before  with  the  various  evils  which  oi)prcs8  our,  race.  The 
good  is  an  ever-increasing  cpiantity  ;  and  it  is  a  part  of  the 
very  constitution  of  tilings  that  it  should  increase  and  trans- 
form the  evil.  Here  is  a  well-spring  of  hope  which  is  peren- 
nial. 

Nature  helps  us  in  our  conflict  with  evil  ;  for  all  those 
better  influences  to  which  I  have  referred  are  evolved  in  the 
progress  of  history.  And  what  is  this  but  saying,  in  other 
words,  that  God  is  on  the  side  of  the  good  and  the  true,  — 
that  "the  just  man  has  underneath  him  the  everlasting  arms"? 
I  admit  all  the  mystery  of  pain,  and  the  immense  extent  of 
human  misery  through  past  ages.  Nothing  is  to  be  gained  by 
re[)udiating  reality  or  ignoring  hard  facts.  But,  at  the  same 
time,  I  see  abundant  ground ■>  for  cherishing  tiiat  enthusiastic, 
tender  hope  for  the  future,  wanting  which  all  cflbrts  towards 
good  would  be  paralyzed,  smd  life's  misery  and  enn)tincs8 
would  become  intolerable.  True,  indeed,  in  many  an  instance, 
our  enthusiasm  may  be  doomed  to  disapi)ointment.  But,  if 
not  in  the  way  that  we  ex[)ect,  in  nobler  and  higher  forms, 
the  good  Ave  seek  will  be  realized.  The  power  which  underlies 
the  wondrous  evolution  will  secure  the  ultimate  triiunph  of  the 
good.  That  power  is  woi-king  in  accordance  w  itii  moral  order, 
and  for  moral  ends.  That  power  is  God,  wlio  not  oidy  dis- 
closes himself  in  the  play  of  nature's  forces,  but  who,  as  the 
source  of  moral  order,  is  also  "  the  Inspircr  of  kings,  the 
Revcaler  of  laws,  the  lleconciler  of  nations,  the  Redeemer  of 
churches,  the   Guide  of  the   human    race   toward    an  unknown 


# 


i^' 


If 


f     ir"^ 


72 


WUERE  ARE    WE  AND    WI/ITITER    TENDTNOf 


goal." '     Tins  is  the  source  of  that  sure  hope  which  leads  us 
to  prophesy  good  of  the  future.     This  is,  indeed, 

*'  The  mifchty  wave  of  tliought  and  joy 
Lifting  mankind  again." 

But  while,  we  cherish  these  buoyant  hopes  of  our  race,  as  the 
precious  motor  forces  which  arc  to  sustain  our  action  in  the  di- 
rection of  progress,  it  is  idle  to  ignore  the  discouraging  facts 
of  existence  by  which  we  are  constantly  confronted.     Human 
progress,  it  must  be  admitted,  is,  in  many  directions,  porten- 
tously slow,  and,  in  some  departments,  very  doubtful.     It  is 
not  a  tide  rolling  in  irresistibly,  with  advancing  and  I'cceding 
ripples  ;  rather  it  is  a  tide  made  up  of  several  divergent  cur- 
rents, and  a  vast  system  of  action    and   reaction.     At  times 
there  is  depression,  like  that  at  neap-tide,  then  a  sudden  bound 
forward,  as  during  the  last  sixty  or  seventy  years,  which  have 
witnessed  grander  achievements  than  the  long  roll  of  preceding 
centuries.     Every  advance,  however,  has   its  drawbacks,  and 
has  to  cut  its  way  through  oi)p()sing  forces.     Every  new  idea 
has  to  battle  for  existence  with  antagonists  bent  on  its  destruc- 
tion.    INIankind,  as  a  rule,  detest  ciianges,  and    fiercely  resist 
the  intrusion  of  new  thoughts,  even  when  both  ai'c  proved  to 
have  a  benelicent  tendency.     Hence,  so  many  races  and  nations 
are  stagnant  and  show  no  tendency  to  advance.      Tiiey  are  in 
bondage  to  old  established  customs  ;  and  whatever  threatens  to 
disturb  these,  and  shake  tlu'ir  ancient  usages  and  cherished  be- 
liefs, is  painful,  and  rouses  resistance.     Progress,  imder  such 
conditions,  nuist  resemble  the  slow  advance  of  the  glacier.     All 
history  shows  that  the  stationary  condition  has  ever  been   the 
most  common,  and  that  progressive  nations  have  only  a[)peared 
at  rare  intervals.     Arrested  civilizations,  in  crude  and  primitive 
form,  everywhere  meet  the  eye  in  scanning  the  pages  of  history 
and  many  of  these  continue  till  the  present  time.     Habits  and 
customary  laws  form  a  yoke  which  forbids  innovations,  checks 
originality,  and  fetters  progress.     The  present  is  in  bondage  to 
the  past.     The  past  is  a  dead  corpse  which  the  present  has  to 

^  Natural  Religion.    By  the  author  of  Ecco  Homo. 


WHERE  ARE   WE  AND    WHITHER    TENOmOt 


73 


waste  its  energiea  in  carrying  about,  instead  of  giving  it  decent 
interment.  The  social  customs,  the  laws  and  institutions,  the 
religious  ideas  and  forms  of  worship  of  dead  and  buried  genera- 
tions, confront  us  on  all  h.ands,  and  cling  to  us  tenaciously.  In 
all  departments  of  thought  and  action  we  are  hampered  by 
''  survivals  "  and  revivals.  The  old  reappeais  in  slightly  modi- 
tied  form.  Tlic  archaic  conception  comes  to  the  surface,  like  a 
primitive  rock  piercing  the  later  formations.  Tiie  dread  of 
change  —  of  ceasing  to  be  what  they  were  at  first  —  pervades 
all  our  institutions.  Wc  might  naturally  expect  that  society 
would  use  wisely  all  the  garnered  wisdom  of  the  past,  instead 
of  being  in  slavish  subjection  to  it,  and  turn  to  account  the  re- 
sults achieved  by  the  toiling  generations  who  have  preceded  us, 
making  these  the  stepping-stones  to  higiier  things.  Ihit  such 
is  far  from  being  the  case,  and  hence  the  slow  and  painful  ad- 
vance of  the  race.  It  is  only  when  freedom  of  thought  and 
action  is  reached  by  some  fortunately  circumstanced  nation,  or 
some  richly  endowed  individuals,  that  new  truths  obtain  a  fair 
field  of  action,  and  the  yoke  of  ancient  customs  and  ojjinions  is 
thrown  off.  Then  originality  of  thought  asserts  itself;  old 
opinions  and  usages,  once  valuable,  but  now  antiquated,  are 
doubted,  discussed,  and  thrown  aside  as  inadequate  for  the  pres- 
ent time :  and  this  relaxation  of  tiic  conservative  element 
enables  society  to  advance,  and  to  adjust  itself  to  new  condi- 
tions. 

Thus  progress  must  ever  be  accomj)lished  by  painful 
effort.  Its  course  is  rigidly  conditioned  by  "tiic  uno'erleaped 
mountains  of  necessity."  The  young  radical  reformer,  the 
well-meaning  but  over-cnthusiasti(!  philanthropist,  the  too-san- 
guine religionist,  fret  and  fume  against  these  impediments,  and 
resolve  to  sweep  them  aside,  and  exterminate  vice  and  misery 
in  one  grand  campaign,  and  introduce  the  milk'nnium  the  day 
after  to-morrow.  Sad  ex[)erience  shatters  their  ideals  and  dis- 
appoints their  hopes.  Once  uiore  "oKl  Adam  proves  to  be  too 
strong  for  j'oung  Melancthon."  Superficial  optimism,  that 
fancies  this  "  the  best  of  all  possible  worlds,"  and  believes  that 
all  is  going  on  smoothly  towards  a  bright  and  glorious  consum- 


■r 


^ 


Wr" 


74 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WIIITllER    TENDING  t 


j  \ 
\\ 


\i  h.i 


i! 


mation  just  at  hand,  receives  a  rude  awakening  from  its  dreama 
by  the  stern  facts  of  existence. 

Still,  tlie  great  law  of  development  maintains  its  slow  hut 
stately  march.  Amid  all  the  dread  of  change,  of  departure 
from  the  original  shapes  which  thought  and  action  assume,  and 
in  spite  of  constant  efforts  to  restoi'c  what  is  obsolete  and  dead, 
and  revive  past  forms,  life  is  ever  slowly  but  constantly  altering 
itself  to  meet  new  conditions.  There  is  ever  a  growing  con- 
formity between  the  world  of  thought  and  the  world  of  facts. 
This  gradual  ada[)tation  of  tiie  race  to  its  surroundings  consti- 
tutes the  law  of  development,  which  underlies  the  whole  consti- 
tution of  thiny;s.  In  its  action  it  is  "  unhastinjj  and  unresting." 
We  chafe  at  the  slowness  of  the  advance,  and  sometimes  ques- 
tion the  reality  of  progress  ;  but  is  not  the  great  law  of  devel- 
opment an  expression  of  the  mind  of  Ilim  with  whom  "  a  thou- 
sand years  are  as  one  day "'  ?  Time  is  nothing  with  the  Eternal 
One.  His  law  is,  that  from  the  primitive  and  imperfect  forms 
of  life  the  more  complex  and  j)crfect  social  forms  and  the 
higher  ranges  of  thought  and  feeling  shall  be  slowly  develoj)ed. 
First  the  dawn  and  twilight,  then  the  perfect  day.  "  First  the 
blade,  tiion  the  full  corn  in  the  car."  In  the  childhood  of 
humanity  men  could  only  stupidly  wonder  at  nature,  and  adopt 
some  crude  and  imperfect  guesses  regarding  the  meaning  of  the 
great  miivcrsc  and  the  play  of  its  majestic  forces.  Blunderings 
and  errors  iunumerable  must  have  marked  their  first  efforts, 
and  these  liad  to  be  slowly  corrected  by  experience.  Truths 
were  thus  gradually  estabHshcd  as  knowledge 'accumulated. 
Errors  were  slowly  eliminated  by  a  moi'C  extended  acquaintance 
with  facts.  But  all  this  progress  of  thought  involved  conHict 
—  a  never-ending  battle  between  old  established  errors  and 
new  trutlis.  "  The  survival  of  the  fittest  "  held  jrood  rcirtvi'd- 
ing  tlie  combatants.  Each  great  thinker  discovered  some  errors 
in  the  system  of  his  predecessors,  and  tlius  advances  were  made 
and  closer  approximations  to  th(5  truth.  Old  delusions  and 
superstitions  were  undermined,  and,  without  any  direct  attack, 
silently  disappeared,  being  discredited  as  the  light  of  new  dis- 
coveries fell  upon  them.     Tlie  advance,  though  tortuous  and 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDING  t 


75 


often  checked,  waa  real  and  persistent.  In  the  ceaseless  con- 
flict trutli  had  this  immense  advantage,  that  once  gained,  men 
wouhl  not  willingly  part  with  it,  and  that  each  new  truth 
became  a  centre  around  which  others  might  gather,  and  new 
discoveries  group  themselves.  Thus  we  reach  the  consolatory 
doctrine  of  the  ultimate  victory  of  truth.  True,  indeed,  the 
vast  and  complicated  forces  work  slowly.  The  advance  is  often 
checked  or  converted  into  a  retreat.  Developments  the  most 
promising  arc  frequently  arrested,  and  remain  stationary  during 
vast  historic  periods.  The  ideas  and  discoveries  of  the  acuter 
minds  are  powerless  frequently  in  presence  of  the  unconquer- 
able resistance  presented  by  human  stupidity  and  indolence. 
"Good  customs"  themselves  "corrupt  the  world  "  by  their  per- 
sistency, after  they  have  ceased  to  be  adapted  to  the  new  con- 
ditions which  have  ])resented  themselves,  as  humanity  passes 
from  one  stage  to  another  ;  and  ancient  usage  tends  to  make 
each  generation  a  mummy-like  imitation  of  its  predecessor. 
All  this  may  be  most  true,  and  yet  it  is  no  less  true  that  there  is 
progress  discernible  after  certain  lengthened  periods.  We  look, 
and  lo  !  the  change  is  un(iuestioualjle.  llow  it  has  come  we 
hardly  know.  The  seed  has  grown  "  while  men  8lej)t."  That 
competition  which  pervades  all  nature  results  in  the  victory 
of  the  true  and  the  good.  Bad  institutions  and  customs, 
through  competition,  are  displaced  by  better,  and  wrong  ideas 
finally  go  down  in  the  conflict  with  those  which  more  correctly 
corres[)ond  with  the  facts  of  the  universe.  It  may  be  true  that 
the  great  mass  of  each  generation  is  but  a  slight  improvement 
on  its  predecessor,  and  that  even,  in  many  instances,  that  gain 
may  be  a[)parently  lost ;  srill,  the  gain,  though  wlight,  is  real, 
and  the  increment  of  good,  however  slow,  may  go  on  indetinitely. 
Utopian  dreams,  therefore,  of  rapidly  approacliing  millen- 
niums, of  perfections  of  humanity,  find  no  su|)port  in  the  facts 
of  existence.  AVe  must  take  the  world  as  \\(\  find  it ;  and  it 
appears  to  be  one  in  which  our  race  advances  by  slow  accretions 
of  good,  and  by  each  generation  and  individual  adding  some- 
thing to  the  increasing  sum.  By  patient  thought,  by  persistent 
effort",  in  accordance  with  the  great  laws  of  the  universe,  the 


1 1 

II 


tlai 


, 


'iBl! 


il 


!      'V: 


I         Si 

1      N 


H 


76 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AXD    WHITHER    TENDING t 


advance  must  be  secured.  We  are  not  responsible  for  llie  plan 
of  the  social  structure  ;  but  for  intclli/^ent  recognition  of  the 
conditions  and  limitations  under  which  we  work,  and  duo 
observance  of  the  laws  under  which  we  are  placed.  In  pres- 
ence of  the  stern  facts  revealed  by  science  and  the  solemn 
teachings  of  history,  optimism  nuist  be  discarde,.  as  an  inade- 
quate, and,  in  many  respects,  an  incorrect  doctrine.  Its  "rosy 
dreams  of  life,  its  comfortable  non-recognition  of  the  un[)leasant 
facts  of  existence  of  the  dark  side  of  nature,  its  constant 
assurances  that  "  Whatever  is,  is  right,"  that  all  evil  is  but  a 
slight  preliminary  to  ultimate  and  speedy  huj)pine8s,  are  views 
which  sober  reason  refuses  to  accept  and  experience  rapidly 
dissipates.  Besides,  such  teachings,  if  carried  out  to  their 
logical  consecjuences,  would  paralyze  all  moral  effort  and  dis- 
courage all  lofty  endeavor  to  lessen  the  amount  of  evil  and 
improve  the  condition  of  humanity. 

Efibrt  is  uncalled  for  if  the  world's  arrauffemonts  are  all  rii^ht 
and  adapted  to  secure  i)erfection.  No  less  contrary  to  facts  is  the 
gloomy  doctrine  of  pessimism.  Its  teachings  would  lead  us  to  be- 
lieve that  progress  is  a  baseless  dream,  that  human  life  is  worth- 
less, as,  from  the  very  nature  of  things,  its  misery  is  incurable, 
and  nmst  ever  be  far  in  excess  of  its  happiness.  The  experience 
of  life  refutes  such  views,  and  shows  that  hap{)iness,  of  a 
sober,  rational  kind,  has  been  reached,  and  is  attainable  by  an 
indefinitely  large  proportion  of  mankind.  History  and  science 
show  us  that  this  proportion  is  steadily  increasing,  and  point 
out  the  way  in  which  such  increase  is  to  be  reached.  Avoiding 
both  these  extremes  of  optimism  and  pessimism  we  find  the 
truth  in  the  practical  midway  docti'ine  which  George  Eliot  has 
appropriately  named  "Meliorism,"  or  the  improvement  of  the 
world,  to  an  extent  which  may  be  conceived  of,  but  not  strictly 
defined.  The  positive  increase  of  good  and  the  continual  les- 
sening of  evil  may  go  on  indefinitely ;  and  these  slow  and 
gradual  ameliorations  of  man's  lot  will,  in  the  distant  future, 
transform  human  life  into  a  condition  as  far  6U[»erior  to  the 
present  as  the  present  is  superior  to  the  lowest  stages  of  bar- 
barism. 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AXD    WHITHER    TENDLVOf 


77 


Here  we  find  a  firm  ground  for  hopeful  endeavor.  Kacli 
individual,  and  eacli  generation,  ean  not  only  do  something 
to  reduce  the  evil,  but  to  increase  the  good.  Iliniian  well- 
being  thus  becomes  an  ever-increasing  (juantity  ;  and  lionet 
and  wise  endeavor  can  add  to  it  in  the  present  and  future. 
This  life  theory  may  not  remove  all  ditKcultics  or  clear  up  the 
mysteries  of  existence  ;  but  it  is  in  harmony  with  recognized 
facts,  and  it  furnishes  a  sufficient  practical  basis  for  noble  effort 
in  the  cause  of  humanity  and  for  the  guidance  of  conduct. 
Putting  aside  all  uiu'ealities  and  fantastic,  mystical  conceptions, 
here  is  solid  ground  on  which  wc  can  stand.  Whatever  else 
may  be  untrue  or  doubtful,  here  is  something  we  can  rest  on 
with  certainty.  We  take  this  human  life  as  wc  find  it.  Its  ills 
may  be  lessened,  its  beauty  and  brightness  may  be  increased 
and  multii)lied.  Then,  "whatever  our  hands  find  to  do,  let  ua 
do  it  with  our  might,"  patiently,  jjcrsistently,  but,  above  all, 
hopefully.  Loftier  heights  may  yet  be  scaled,  and  on  these  the 
triumphant  banners  of  humanity  may  be  planted.  There  may 
bo  no  absolute  perfection  attainable,  no  sudden  and  swee[)ing 
regeneration  possible.  To  alter  and  elevate  the  masses  we 
must  first  improve  the  individual  units  of  which  they  are  com- 
posed ;  and  all  the  history  of  the  past,  and  all  the  revelations 
of  science,  prove  that  such  perfecting  processes  work  slowly, — 
that  the  inertia  to  be  overcome  is  vast,  and  cannot  be  the  work 
of  a  day.  The  lengthened  and  often  saddening  and  revolting 
processes  through  which  our  race  has  slowly  risen  from  barba- 
rism to  that  degree  of  culture  which  we  name  modern  civiliza- 
tion, forbid  all  extravagant  dreams  of  rapid  advance  in  the 
future.  The  terrible  mass  of  existing  woes,  which  is  a  iicritage 
from  ancestral  wrong-doing  and  errors,  equally  discourages 
devout  imaginations  of  social  millenniums.  The  poverty  of  the 
masses  ;  the  crime,  sensuality,  drunkenness,  and  avarice  which 
abound ;  the  misery  caused  by  the*  oj)eration  of  ])reventable 
diseases  ;  the  limited  extent  of  education  in  its  proper  sense, —  all 
show  from  what  evils  mankind  have  yet  to  be  redeemed.  And 
yet  when  we  look  over  a  sufl^ciently  wide  area,  and  study  the 
operation  of  physical,  social,  and  moral  la^s,  we  cannot  doubt 


Nl 


ll 


78 


WIIERIC  ARI-:    WE  AX/)    WirtTllER    TENDISOt 


A 


M 


tliftt  Huflf'orinf^  jind  nuHory  nro  (lliiiinishlnjf,  nnd  happiness,  in  ft 
reuH()imi)le  (U'j^rco,  t!xteii<linj;  ;  iiiid  tliiit,  iw  knowlcdf^c;  frrovvs, 
and  niondity  hocioincs  puritiod,  men  arc  rcapln;,'  a  rie-licr 
reward  and  an  ever-lessening;  anionnt  of  sntt'erin^',  hy  a  more 
enlightened  eontbrniity  with  tlie  eon<litions  of  their  existenec  ; 
or,  in  other  words,  with  the  provicUsntial  Jaws  under  whieli  they 
live  and  aet. 

To  many,  no  douht,  this  sh)W  process  of  amelioration,  gen- 
eration after  generation,  and  age  after  age,  seems  a  depressing 
outh)()k  for  th(!  future.  Tliey  would  prefer  swecspiug  hut  unsafe 
revolutions  to  slow  hut  steady  evolutions,  ignoring  the  stern 
facts  of  human  existenec,  which  hlock  the  way  to  hasty  recon- 
8tru(;tion8  of  society.  They  ask  impatiently.  Is  this  slow 
method  of  social  evolution   all   wc  arc   warranted  to   expect? 

To  such  a  question  it  may  he  answered,  hy  way  of  consola- 
tion, that  history  shows  us  that  in  the  past  there  have  occurred, 
at  intervals,  menjorahle  epochs,  during  which  certain  great  men, 
the  heroes  of  their  race,  have  a[)peared  and  mad(!  their  influence 
widely  felt,  kindling  in  the  hearts  of  their  fellows  a  loftier 
enthusiasm,  and  lifting  them  to  higher  levels.  These  epoch- 
making  men  arc  partly  the  product  of  their  age,  and  yet  they 
rise  ahove  it  and  mould  it  to  hettcr  ends.  In  their  own  individ- 
uality they  concentrate  the  asj)irations  and  thoughts  which  are 
dindy  and  feebly  working  in  the  minds  of  their  generation, 
and  intensify  these,  giving  them  expression  and  impression,  so 
as  to  lead  to  action,  and  create  a  new  era  of  advance  and  a 
new  type  of  character.  They  must  not  be  too  far  in  advance 
of  their  times,  otherwise  they  are  not  comprehended  and  their 
influence  is  unfclt,  save  by  a  few  of  the  ^Ute;  or  men  may 
turn  on  the  innovators  and  "  rend  them,"  as  impious  dis- 
turbers of  established  order.  To  be  effective  for  good,  in  his 
own  generation,  the  great  man  must  not  soar  aloft  unduly, 
otherwise  he  is  lost  in  the  clouds ;  though  his  thoughts 
may  survive  him,  and  be  appreciated  afterwards  by  a  more 
enlightened  and  advanced  age.  He  must,  in  oi'der  to  raise  his 
generation,  be  in  sympathy  with  them  to  a  large  extent,  sharing 
in  their  modes  of  tlij^ught,  but  having  ideas  and  views  to  which 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AM)    WHIT fl Ell    TES!>l\(}t 


79 


thoy  arc  Btranj^crs,  or  which  they  very  ohsrurcly  discern.  'I'lu! 
w»)rl(l  hiiH  never  \wx\\\  without  such  j;reut  men,  th(>ii;^'h  they  arc 
ran;,  and  in  their  hi;fhe«t  form  may  only  appear  once  or  twice 


in  a  century. 


Hut  i'l 


roni  them  originate  those  crises  in 


the  1 


IIH- 


tory  of  our  race  when,  in  thi;  travail  of  the  a;^es,  a  new  era 
has  hirth,  and  a  new  upward  impulse  is  imparted.  The  enthu- 
siasm they  kindlcMl  will,  no  douht,  e.\|)end  itself  and  appar- 
ently Ix' lost ;   hut  th(!  result   is  never  wholly  lost,  and  will  he 


felt. 


Ml  une\pe( 


•ted  f( 


orms,  after  many  days. 


Tl 


le  ni'w  tliouLrht 


which   hrst    arises     in 


tl 


lu     nnn< 


I    of 


some    solitary     thinker 


who  is  far  in  advance  of  his  fellows  spreads  like  leaxcii  amid 
the  masses  and  gives  hirth  to  mighty,  heni'ficial  changes. 
Who  could  have  I'oreseen  the  vast  revolutions  which  were 
to  follow  from  the  thought  of  movahle  types  in  the  mind 
of  (Jiitcnhi'rg ;  of  a  new  world  in  the  mind  of  Coltimhus; 
of  gravitation  in  the  mind  of  Newton ;  of  steam-power  in 
the  mind  of  \\'att ;  of  "  natural  selection "  in  the  mind  of 
Darwin  ? 

The  whole  current  of  human  thought  has  been  modified  or 
changed  hy  these  men  of  creative  genius  ;  and  systems  which  arc 
hoary  with  age,  and  around  which  has  gathered  the  veneration  of 
many  generations,  silently  disappear  before  the  disintegrating 
might  of  their  new  ideals.  They  change  the  world's  thoughts, 
and  with  these,  ultimately,  the  whole  face  of  society.  AVIiether 
these  "  heroes "  of  our  race  be  men  of  thought  or  men  of 
action,  —  whether  spiritual  reformers,  philoso[)hcr3,  inventors, 
scientific  discoverers,  literary  workers,  explorers,  poets,  artists, 
warriors,  or  statesmen,  —  they  mightily  help  forward  the  j)rogre8S 
of  humanity  ;  and  if  we  wish  to  understand  human  history, 
we  must  never  overlook  these  potent  factors.  They  work  with 
the  great  tide  which  sets  towards  progress,  and  hel[)  to  swell  its 
mighty  How.  AVoe  be  to  us  if  we  fail  to  recognize  with  rever- 
ential gratitude  the  great  ones  who  have  toiled  and  suffered 
and  bled  in  the  cause  of  humanity,  who  for  us  have  "  borne 
the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day,"  into  whose  labors  we  have 
entered  !  They  have  beautified  and  blessed  life,  and  left  the 
world  richer  and  happier. 


il 


ifr" 


80 


WHERE  ARE   WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDIXOt 


13 1« 


i\ 


■i  I 


,1    i    ' 


Now,  if  these  kings  of  thouj^ht  and  action  have  appeared, 
and  helped  to  guide  humanity  in  the  past,  and  to  stir  them  to 
noble  iiciion,  are  we  to  suppose  that,  in  the  future,  there  shall 
not  arise  men  "  in  their  spirit  and  power  "  to  create  new  and 
yet  nobler  epochs?  Why  should  great  men  "fail  from  the 
earth  "  as  humanity  advances?  There  will  ever  be  ample  work 
for  them  to  perform.  The  well  of  thought  has  not  run  dry. 
Greater  and  better  men  than  have  yet  adorned  our  hunumity 
will  take  their  plac(!  in  the  march,  and  cheer  the  host  by  their 
trunn)ct-call  to  duty.  The  need  for  such  men  is,  and  must 
continue  to  be,  great  ana  pressing,  when  so  many  woes  afflict 
humanity,  and  so  many  giant  evils  retard  the  progress  of 
LJOciety. 

All  the  good  achieved  by  the  great  ones  of  the  past  will 
be  gathered  up  by  the  greater  men  who  are  to  follow,  in  the 
successive  births  of  the  ages,  and  will  be  reverently  preserved 
in  history's  golden  urn.  To  these  their  own  contribu^^ions  of 
good  will  be  added,  as  a  procious  heritage  to  humanity.  While, 
then,  wo  may  at  ti:nc3  be  saddened  at  the  slowness  and  uncer- 
tainty of  tlie  march,  at  its  defeats  and  failures,  let  us  remember 
that  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  the  great  ones  will  be  near  to 
cheer  the  faint-hearted,  to  breathe  courage  into  the  despondent, 
to  guide  the  host  onward  and  upward. 

"  Sec !     In  the  rocks  of  the  world 
Mar'jhes  the  hoc*^  of  mankind, 
A  feeble,  wavering  line. 
Where  are  they  tending?     A  God 
Marsliall'd  them,  pave  then  ti;eir  goal,  — 
Ail,  l)ut  tlie  way  is  so  long! 
Years  they  liave  been  in  tiie  wild !       • 
Sore  tliirst  plagues  tliem,  the  rocks, 
l?isin,!r  all  nronnd,  overawe; 
Factions  divide  them,  their  host 
Threatens  to  break,  to  dissolve, — 
Ah,  keep,  keep  them  combined! 
Else,  of  the  myriads  who  fill 
That  army,  not  one  sliall  arrive ; 

Sole  they  shall  stray ;  on  the  rocks  , 

Baiter  forever  in  vain, 
Die  one  by  one  in  the  waste. 


WHERE  ARE    WE  ASD    WHITHER    TEiVDIiVO f 


81 


"  Then  in  such  hour  of  need 
Of  your  fainting,  dispirited  race, 
Ye,  like  an<;els,  ajjpi'ar, 
Radiant  with  ardor  divine. 
Beacons  of  liopo,  ye  appear! 
Languor  is  not  in  your  heart, 
Wealiuess  is  not  in  your  word, 
Weariness  not  on  your  brow. 
Ye  aliglit  in  our  van !     At  yt)ur  voice, 
Panic,  despair  flee  away. 
Ye  move  tlirough  tlie  ranks,  recall 
The  stragglers,  refresh  the  outworn, 
Praise,  reinspire  the  brave. 
Order,  courage,  return; 
Eyes  rekindling,  and  prayers 
Follow  your  steps  as  ye  go. 
Ye  fill  up  the  gaps  in  our  files, 
Stii-ngthen  the  wavering  line, 
'Stal)lish,  continue  our  march, 
On,  to  the  bound  of  the  waste. 
On,  to  the  City  of  God."  ' 


'  Rugby  Chapel.    M.  Arnold. 


ill  I 


i 


H' 


I  ' 


82 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER   TENDINQ  f 


\\  \ 


LECTURE     III 


The  Question  of  the  Amelioration  of  the  WorkinfT-classes.  —  Ciiffcn's  Statistics. — 
Maouiihiy's  V.icws  on  I'l-ojjress.  —  His  Predictions  Fulfilled.  —  Ini|)rovenu'nts  in 
Feelin;^  and  Character. —  Redundancy  of  Population  Considered.  —  Malthus' 
Views.  —  W.  II.  (Jrcfjrjf  ami  Jia^'ehot  Quoted.  —  Increase  of  Population  can  he 
Controlled  as  Civilization  Advances.  — •  Power  of  Man  over  the  Iniprovcnu'iit  of  his 
Pace.  —  (iidton  Quoted.  —  Possible  Increase;  of  (ireat  Men.  —  (Jernian  Pcs>inii>n». 
—  Causes  of  Prevailinir  Pessimistic  Views  of  Life.  —  Their  Justification.  —  'i'heir 
Imperfection. —Christianity  the  (Jreat  Fsictor  in  Human  Pro;,n'ess ;  Still  the 
Hope  of  the  ^^■orld.  —  Christianity  a  Profzrcssive  I{ehj;ion.  —  Its  Spirit  Lives,  its 
Forms  ('han;,''e.  —  Dread  ol  Innovations.  —  Is  (Jln'i-^tiaiiity  in  Dau^^'cr  from  Scien- 
tific Discoveries  ?  —The  Lessons  of  tiie  Past. — -Tlie  Theory  of  Creation  hy  Law 
not  Irrelif^ious.  —  ScieMtitie  Truth  not  to  lie  Dreaded. 


jHE  question  now  presents  itself,  Arc  there  any  ttinnjible 
proof's  that  our  boasted  seientific  diseoveries,  wliich 
liave   given   us   such    an   inerettsed  eomniand  over  the 

?  powers  of  ntiture  and  tlie  vtirioiis  :ipj>Hiinees  of  our 
modern  eivilization,  have  scnsihly  improved  the  eoa- 
ditiou  of  the  great  masses  of  tlic  peopU.'?  Is  the  residt  of  oiu' 
tnunpeted  progress  merely  to  increase  the  wejilth  and  luxurious 
mdulgences  of  the  rich  while  the  toiling  nuu^ses  find  life's  con- 
ditions as  hard  and  ho[)eless  as  ever?  Is  tlu>  chasm  between 
the  rif;h  and  ])oor  yawning  more  widely  than  ever  in  these  days 
of  progress?  It  may  not  I)e  possii)le  to  answer  such  questions 
conclusix cly,  but  there  tire  certain  tangible  facts  which  the 
vast  majority  of  intelligent  men  Avill  admit,  and  which  go  to 
prove  that  great  ameliorations  in  the  condition  of  the  working- 
classes  hiive  tiiken  phict;  its  the  divct  vcsult  of  mtiterial  progress, 
and  that  more  are  promised.  It  is  safe  to  take  the  condition  (»t 
society  in  England  as  ty[)ical  of  the  changes  wrought  out  by 
modern  civiliztition,  because  there  its  torct.'s  htive  been  more  in- 
tense than  elsewhere,  and  its  results  more  decisive,  ^^'llat  is 
true  of  socictv  in  Kiijilaiid  will  hold  trood,  more  or  less,  of  (ttiier 


landf 


s    in  which    civiiiziii";    iiiHucni-cs    are    at  work.      Beside 


available  statistics  betiring  on  such  tjucstions  have  been  most 
l;u'g(  ly  iuid  ticcurately  furnished  by  English  writers. 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDING t 


83 


The  inaugural  address  of  the  fiftieth  session  of  the  Statisti- 
cal Society,  recently  delivered  by  ]\Ir.  Robert  Giflen,  LL.D., 
contains  valuable  ini'orniation  on  these  {)oints.  lie  sluuved, 
from  the  statistics  of  the  United  Kinirdom,  that  duriiiir  the  last 
fifty  years  there  had  been  an  enormous  rise  in  money  wages, 
rangino-  from  twenty,  and  in  most  cases  from  fifty  to  one  hun- 
dred percent.,  while  at  the  same  time  there  had  been  a  decrease 
in  the  hours  of  labor  of  nearly  twenty  per  cent.  "  The  work- 
man of  to-day  receives  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  per  cent, 
more  money  for  twenty  [ler  cent,  less  work  ;  in  round  figures 
he  has  gained  froui  seventy  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  [)er 
cent,  in  fifty  years  in  money  return."  In  regard  to  the  prices 
of  commodities  diu'ing  this  period  there  had  been  little  change. 
"  On  the  whole,  tliQ  sovereign  goes  as  far  as  it  did  forty  or  fifty 
years  ago,  while  there  arc  many  new  things  in  existence  at  a 
low  price  which  couhl  not  then  have  been  bought  at  all." 
"Fifty  years  ago  the  workman,  with  wages  on  the  average 
about  half  what  they  arc  now,  hail  occasionally  to  contend  with 
a  fiuctuation  in  the  price  of  bread  which  im[)lied  sheer  starva- 
tion." "  While  during  the  last  half  century  sugar  and  such 
articles  have  largely  declined  in  price,  and  while  clothing  is 
cheaper,  th'.;  only  article  interesting  the  workingman  much 
which  bad  increased  in  price  was  meat,  the  increase  here  being 
considerable.  Fifty  years  ago,  however,  meat  was  not  an 
article  of  workman's  diet  as  it  has  since  become."  Further, 
JNIr.  (iifren  showed  that  the  governmental  expenditure  for  the 
benefit  of  the  working-classes  had  increased  from  twenty  to 
sixty  millions  in  fifty  years,  the  increase  being  mainly  for  sani- 
tary and  educational  purposes,  ''  All  this  helped  to  mak(!  life 
sweeter  and  better,  and  to  open  out  careers  even  to  the  j)oor- 
est."  One  of  the  most  striking  results  of  better  food, 
clothing,  and  housing,  of  iietter  sanitation  and  knowledge  of 
medicin(>,  has  been  an  increase  in  the  mean  dtM'ation  of  life 
amounting  to  an  average  gain  of  two  years  among  mah-s  and 
three  and  a  half  among  females.  This  showed  "a  great 
increase  in  the  vitality  of  the  people.  Not  only  had  fewer 
died,  but  the  masses  who  had  lived  must  have  been  healthier 


ill  I 


:| 


f«i 


^|ii 


Si 


84 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER   TENDING  f 


^t 


and  suffered   less  from  sickness   tli.an  they  did."     "  When   the 
improvements  hnd  been  in  existence  for  a  lonjjjer  i)eriod,  so  that 
the  lives  of  all  who  are  living  had  been  affected  irom  birth  by 
the  changed  conditions,  wc  might  infer  that  even  a  greater  gain 
in  the  mean  duration  of  life  will  be  shown.     As  it  was  the  gain 
was  enormous."     The  consuujption  of  tea  and  sugar  was  four 
times  what  it  had  been  forty  years  ago.     "There  could  be  no 
better  evidence  than  this  of  diffused  material  well-being  among 
the  masses."     "  The  children  of  the  masses  arc  now  obtaining 
a  good  education  all  round,  whereas  fifty  yeaf*  ago  the  masses 
had  either  no  education  at  all   or  a   comparatively  poor  one. 
AVhile  at  the  j)resent  day  not  only  did  we  get  all  children  into 
schools,    or   nearly    all,    but   the    education    imparted    to   the 
increase<l  numbers  was  better  than  that  which  the  fortunate  few 
alone  obtained  before."     The  better  education  and  well-being 
of  the  masses  had  led  to  a  decrease  in  crime,  so  that  with   a 
much   larger   population  there  arc    now   fewer   criminals  than 
fifty   yci'vs    ago.       Pauperism,    too,    has   declined.      In    1849 
j)aupers    in   receipt  of  relicF  in   England  cost    £n34,(;00  ;  in 
1881,    with    a    vastly    incn'cascd    population,    £803,000.       In 
regard  to  savings-banks,   a  comparison  showed  that  in  1831 
there  were  42i),000  depositors,  and    the  amount  of   deposits 
£13,7i;),000;  in   1881  there  were  4,140,000  depositors  and 
the  amount  of  deposits  £80,334,000.     "Thus  it  was  apparent 
that  in  longer  life,  in  increased  consumption  of  the  chief  com- 
modities  they  used,   in    better  education,   in  greater  freedom 
from  crime  -md  pauperism,  and  in  increased  savings,  the  masses 
of  the  ])eo{)le  are  inunenscly  better  than  tiicy  were  fifty  years 
ago.     Discontent  with  the  present  should  not  make  us  forget 
that  things  have  been  much  worse.     All  this  was  quite  consist- 
ent with   the  fact  that  there  is   a  residuum  still   unimproved, 
althougjj   apjiarently  a  smaller  residunai   in   proportion  to  the 
po]»uIation  absolutely  than  there  was  fifty  years  ago."     In  regard 
to  t'ue  doctrine  that  "the  rich  are  becoming  rif^lun*  and  the  poor 
poorer,"  ]\Ir.   Gilfen  states  that  "  it  would  be  nearer  the  mark 
to  say  that  about  the  whole  of  the  great  material  prosperity  of 
the  last  fifty  years  had  gone  to  the  masses.     The  share  of  eapi- 


w fir: RE  jUie  we  axd  whither  tending? 


85 


tal  was  a  very  small  one. 
as  '  workiiiff-class  income. 


'     "  The  increase  of  what  is  known 
in  the  aij^i'roifate  is  «j:roater  than  that 


of  any  other  class,  being  one  hundred  and  sixty  per  cent.,  while 
the  return  to  capital,  and  the  return  to  what  are  called  '  the 
capitalist  classes,'  whether  it  is  from  capital  proper,  or,  as  I 
maintain,  a  return  oidy  in  the  nature  of  waives,  has  only 
increased  al)out  one  hundred  [xn-ccnt.,  alth<MiL!,li  ca[)itMl  itself 
hns  increased  over  one  iiimdred  and  lifty  \n'Y  cent.  At  the 
same  time  the  capitalist  classes  had   irreatlv  increased  i 


ipi 


n  num- 


Steady   progress   in    the  direction   maintained    for  th(; 

ake    the    Knglish    people    vastly 


ipi- 


hcr." 

last  fifty    years    must    soon    make 

sujterior  to  what  they  are  now." 

Such  are  the  conclusions  arrived  at  hy  one  of  the  ahlcst 
etatisti«'ians  in  England.  If  we  allow  that  sduic  of  his  dtitd 
iriay  he  inconclusive,  still  he  has  [troiluced  a  sufficien'y  of 
trustworthy  fi<rures  to  show  that  the  condition  of  the  'vorkin^- 
classes  in  England  is  steadily  imj)roving.  In  the  early  part 
of  the  century  enormous  Hiictuations  in  the  |>ri(te  of  fxnl 
entailed  severe  sufferings.  In  1810  and  LSI 2  the  price  of  a 
quarter  of  wheat  rose  to  l()(5,s'.  and  \'2.i\s.  For  the  last  ten 
years  the  average  price  has  been  h?sit.  ;  and  the  causes  which 
have  reduced  the  cost  of  the  stajile  of  life  seem  permanent  and 
likely  to  continue  increasingly  operative  in  the  future.  Wealth 
is  becoming  more  diffused;  and  JNIr.  (iitibn  has  ])roved  that, 
while  the  income  from  capital  has  kept  pace  only  with  the 
increase  of  capital  itself,  the  wages  of  the  working-classes  have 
virtually  doubled  ;  so  that  the  .assertion  tb.at  these  classes  have 
not  shared  equitably  in  the  increase  of  material  wcidth  cannot 
be  sustained.  There  is  no  setting  aside  of  statistics  ;  and  these 
show  that  the  average  fortunes  of  the  rich  are  eleven  per 
cent,  lower  than  in  1840,  while  the  condition  of  the 
working-classes  has  improved  one  himdrcd  per  cent.  During 
the  |)crio<l  from  l.sTOto  1<S80  savings-bank  di'i)osits  increnscd 
thirty-two  per  cent.  Since  1840  the  increase  of  de[)ositor8 
has  risen  from  three  per  cent,  of  population  to  eleven 
per  cent.,  and  the  ratio  of  paupers  has  fallen  to  three  per 
cent,    of    the    inhabitants    of    the    United    Kingdom,  —  the 


I*  i 

13 


im 


m\ 


Mil 


i 


rf 


w 


86 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WIIlTnER    TENDING t 


.  ^-'r 


: 


lowest  known  since  the  beginning  of  the  century.  In  1861, 
with  a  popuhition  in  Enghmd  and  Walca  of  10,88(5,000, 
there  were  1,033,974  paupers;  in  1881,  with  a  population  of 
2r),0Gr),l)71,  there  were  only  803,120  paupers.  In  1801  the 
population  of  P^ngland  and  AValcs  was  9,060,!)1K3  ;  in  1882, 
2(5, 40(5, 820.  Though  the  po[)uliition  nearly  trehled  in  eighty 
years,  the  condition  of  every  classs  has  greatly  improved  ;  and 
tliis  ability  to  maintain  such  a  vast  increase  has  l)een  mainly 
brought  about  by  the  marvellous  increase  in  the  productive 
power  of  machinery,  —  a  result  of  the  practical  ap|)lication  of 
Bcicntific  discoveries  to  the  purposes  of  human  existence. 

Now,  no  doubt,  it  is  easy,  in  replying  to  this  rather  glowing 
optiuiisni,  to  point  out  the  numerous  drawbacks  attendiint  on 
this  advance  of  material  prosj)erity.  It  is  possible,  no  doubt, 
to  show  that  though  the  conilition  of  the  masses  has  improved, 
there  is  an  increasing  remnant  to  whom  this  very  increase  in 
wcidth  is  more  merciless  and  cruel  than  barbarism  itself — who 
are  sinking  lower  and  lower  in  the  scale  of  existence,  and 
hurled  more  irrevocably  into  the  deptlis  of  j)auporism,  crushed 
by  the  pitiless  wheels  of  prosperity.  Further,  it  may  be 
alleged  that  it  is  imi)ossible  to  say  whether  the  causes  of  the 
present  material  advance  may  continue,  or  whether  some  social 
convulsion,  or  some  derangement  in  the  course  of  trade  and 
commerce,  or  some  exhaustion  of  coal  or  iron,  or  other  raw 
materials  of  industry,  may  not  lay  prostrate  the  present  pros- 
perity, and  hurl  many  thousands  into  idleness  and  poverty.  It 
were  easy  to  point  to  the  numerous  evils  caused  by  intense 
competition  and  the  struggle  for  wealth,  and  to  disparage  edu- 
cational and  other  efforts  directed  to  the  elevation  of  the 
masses.  Hut  after  making  due  allowance  for  these  drawbacks 
and  contingencies,  enough  remains  to  inspire  hope  and  confi- 
dence regarding  the  future.  The  solid  gains  cannot  be  disputed. 
The  advance  cannot  be  set  aside.  The  area  of  suff(>rin<r  and 
miserv  is  lesseninj;  ;  the  condition  of  the  great  bodv  of  the 
people  is  slowly  but  surely  advancing.  The  student  of  science, 
in  his  closet,  strikes  out  the  thought  which  the  mechanist  and 
engineer  turn   to  practical   account.       Tools  arc  thus  formed 


WHERE  ARE    \yE  AXD    WlflTIIER    TENDING  t 


87 


which,  in  due  tirno,  and  whon  placed  under  moral  control,  may 
an^eliorate  the  condition  of  the  whole  Imman  race.  The 
oppressive  and  grosser  forms  of  lahor  may  thus  come  to  he 
relegated  to  machinery,  and  the  toilei-s  may  obtain  that  leisure 
which  is  essential  to  intellectual  and  moral  advance,  and  thus 
rise  in  the  scale  of  being.  AVe  may  safely  welcome  the  present 
gains  of  civilization  as  instalments  which  [)romise  vastly  greater 
additions  to  human  well-beins;  in  comin<r  ai^es.  Tin;  moral  and 
spiritual  must  secure  a  solid  foundation  in  the;  material  on  which 
to  operate  ;  and  such  a  Ibundation  is  now  laid. 

In  Lord  Macaiday's  "  History  of  England,''  the  first  volume 
of  which  was  published  thirty-six  years  ago,  the  brilliant 
writer  devotes  the  third  chapter  to  a  description  of  England^ 
in  its  material,  indiistrial,  social,  and  religious  aspects  two 
hundred  years  ago,  with  the  view  of  showing  the  immense 
strides  in  nroijress  made  bv  society  durim;  the  last  two  cen- 
turies.  That  chaiiter  may  be  read  with  advantaije  now  in  the 
light  of  the  present  condition  of  England's  i)0[)ulati(m  and  of 
the  acctderated  material  progress  of  the  last  forty  years.  It 
may  be  true  that  the  historian's  optimisti<!  views  were  too 
highly  colored,  and  that  he  ignored,  to  some  extent,  the 
pressure  of  social  evils  and  the  blots  on  modern  civilization, 
satisfying  himself,  in  many  instances,  with  brilliant  general- 
izations without  looking  dee[)ly  beneath  the  surface  or  calculat- 
ing the  various  forces  which  were  at  work  and  which  have 
resulted  in  the  wonderful  changes  of  the  present  hour.  When 
he  told  us  in  that  chapter  that  "  in  every  experimental  science 
there  is  a  tendency  towards  j)erfcction  ;  "  that  "in  every  human 
being  there  is  a  wish  to  ameliorate  his  own  condition  ;  "  and 
that  "  these  two  princi[tles  have?  often  sufficed,  even  when 
counteracted  by  great  public  calamities  and  by  bad  institu- 
tions. t()  carry  civilization  rapidly  forward,"  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  he  was  not  greatly  too  o[»timistic  in  his  views.  He 
did  not  allow  sufficiently  for  the  yoke  of  custom  ;  for  the 
inertia  generated  by  long-established  usages ;  for  the  prej- 
udices, superstitions,  and  stupidities  that  arc  the  heritage  of 
past  generations.     These   are   what  stand   in   the  way  of  im 


ill 


\m\ 


i 


" 


88 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDING  T 


m 


provetnent  and  tend,  in  a  nutjority  of  cases,  to  render  societies 
stationary   and  the  progressive  condition  the    rare    exception. 
Still,   Macaulay's    main    powitions    in    regard  to   the   innnense 
progress    realized    remain    unassailable.       Once    the    supersti- 
tious  reverence   for  old  fixed   ways  of  thought  and  action   is 
broken,  and  freedom  secured  lor  the  expression  of  individual 
opinion   and  originality  of  action  in   all  departments,  then  so- 
ciety advances  ;    then  ''  the  wi,sh   in  every  man  to  ameliorate 
his   condition"  be«nns    to   work   freely;    then   "the    tendency 
towards    perfection    in    every   experimental    science "   has    full 
scope,  because  no   longer  bound   to  follow  the   ancient  paths. 
Thirty-six  years  ago  Miicaulay  wrote  :    "  It  is  now  the  fashion 
to  place  the  golden  age  of  England   in  times  when  noblemen 
were  destitute  of  comforts  the  want  of  which  would   be  intol- 
erable to  a  modern  footman  ;   when  farmers   and  shopkeepers 
breakfasted  on  loaves  the  very  yiglit  of  which  would  raise  a  riot 
in  a  modern  workhouse  ;    when  men  died  faster  in  the  purest 
country   air  than  they  now  die  in  the  most  pestilential  lanes 
of  our   towns  ;  and  when   men  died  faster  in  the  lanes  of  our 
towns  than  they  now  die  on  the  coast  cf  Guinea.      We,  too, 
t;hall   in  our  turn  be  outstripped,  and  in  our  turn  be  envied. 
It  may  well   be,  in  the  twentieth  ecntu'-  ,  that  the  peasant  of 
Dorsetshire    may    think    himself    miserably    paid    with    fifteen 
shillings   a  week;    that  the   carpenter  at  Greenwich    may  re- 
ceive ten  shillings  a  day  ;  that  laboring  men  may  be  as  little 
used  to  dine  without  meat  as  they  now  are  to  eat  rye  bread  ; 
that  sanitary  police  and  medical  discoveries  may  have   added 
several  more  years  to  the  average  length  of  human  life  ;  that 
numerous  comforts  and  luxuries  which  are  now  unknown,  or 
confined  to  a  few,  may  be  within  the  reach  of  every  diligent 
and  thrifty  working-man.      And  yet  it  may  then  be  the  mode 
to  assert  that  the  increase  of  wealth  and  the  progress  of  science 
have  benefited  the  few  at  the  expense  of  the  many,  and  to  talk 
of  the  reign  of  Queen  Victoria  as  the  time  when  England  was 
truly  merry  England,  when  all  classes  were  bound  together  by 
brotherly  sympathy,  when  the  rich  did  not  grind  the  faces  of 
the  poor,  and  when  the  poor  did  not  envy  the  rich." 


i 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    W  HIT  HER    TENDING? 


89 


Ic 


e 
•e 
k 

!IS 

>y 


No  doubt  when  Lord  Mucaiilay  ventured  on  these  predictions 
in  1848,  us  possibilities  whleh  nii_i>;lit  occur  during  the  twentieth 
century,  ninny  readers  smiled  increchdously  at  such  Utopian 
dreams;  and  yet  all,  or  nearly  all  of  them  have  been  fiillilled, 
while  the  nineteenth  century  has  yet  sixteen  years  to  riui.  Jn 
184')  Dorsetshire  hiborers  were  receivinj^  from  7.s-.  to  8.s".  per 
week;  now  they  obtain  from  Ws.  to  \bs.  In  Lancashire  fac- 
tories the  younjj^  women  and  girls  emi)loyed  in  cotton-spinning 
in  1841  received  8s.  per  week  ;  the  same  class  are  now  paid  13s. 
and  many  15s.  At  the  present  date,  Macaulay's  other  predic- 
tions have  been  more  than  fuKilled.  The  average;  of  human 
life  has  been  lengthened,  and  sanitary  and  medical  discoveries 
have  greatly  lessened  the  prevalence  of  diseases.  \\'heu  the 
twentieth  century  arrives,  should  the  present  rate  of  |)rogres8 
continue,  his  hopes  for  the  improvement  of  the  masses  will  be 
found  greatly  exceeded  by  the  reality.  Doubtless  evils  enough 
will  still  remain  ;  but  the  good  results  attained  will  pioneer  the 
way  to  something  better,  and  nerve  society  for  more  hopeful 
efforts  in  arresting  injurious  influences  and  increasing  the  com- 


mon well-being. 


It  is  easy  to  sneer  at  this  reasoning  in  regard  to  material 
})rosperity  as  "  ewine-philosophy,"  and  to  disparage  it  because 
unaccompanied  by  any  corresponding  moral  progress.  In  point 
of  fact,  however,  the  industrial  phase  which  we  have  now 
reached  carries  with  it  a  very  marked  moral  advance.  vV 
n)ilder  type  of  character,  gentler  manners,  more  refined  feelings, 
more  temperate  beliefs,  characterize  our  modern  society  and 
constitute  its  distinctive  features.  The  coarseness,  brutality, 
and  cruelty  of  former  ages  no  longer  appear,  and  would  not 
now  be  tolerated.  Human  sympathies  have  been  immensely 
widened  ;  respect  for  the  opinions,  the  rights,  and  feelings  of 
others  is,  among  the  educated,  recognized  as  a  rule  of  life.  To 
inflict  unnecessary  pain,  or  even  needlessly  to  wound  the  feel- 
ings of  others,  meets  with  general  reprobation.  That  indif- 
ference to  human  suffering  which  marked  the  fighting  stage  of" 
progress  has  given  place  to  a  tenderness  which  aims  at  the  re- 
moval of  pain   and  misery   in  every  form.      That  ferocity  of 


1 1 


90 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AXD    WHITHER    TENDING f 


temper,  and  that  tcndnney  to  domineer  over  the  opinions  and 
beliefs  of  others,  whieh,  comhined  with  the  claim  to  infalli- 
hility,  led  to  all  the  horrors  of  religious  ])erseeution,  have 
j^reatly  ahated  and  now  rarely  show  their  haleful  aspect.  Have 
not  the  peaceful,  industrious  occupations  of  the  fjfreat  ma  ^ses  of 
men  in  these  d«ys  led  to  these  happy  chanfres?  Not  oidy  are 
the  destructive  activities  of  former  times  restricted,  hut,  as  an 
outcome  of  our  complex  industrial  civilization,  and  of  tlu;  mani- 
fold relations  into  whieh  men  are  brought,  a  8ym[)athetic  temper 
has  been  generated  which  condemns  the  infliction  of  suffering. 
0|)inions  and  religious  beliefs  which  are  not  in  harmony  with 
this  gentler  spirit  of  humanity  are  losing  their  hold  and  silently 
disappearing.  When  life  was  little  better  than  a  struggle  for 
existence,  ferocity  and  violence  held  sway.  The  abundance, 
comforts,  and  even  luxuries  which  tlu;  great  uiiijorities  of  modern 
communities  can  command  have  resulted  in  the  social  amel- 
iorations to  which  I  have  referred.  Let  no  one,  then,  affect  to 
despise  the  material  prosperity  of  our  day.  It  has  already 
secured  no  small  amount  of  moral  progress,  and  gives  promise 
of  greater  in  its  indirect  results.  A  rise  in  the  moral  tempera- 
ture is  perceptible. 

Now  to  these  hopeful  views  regarding  the  elevation  of  the 
masses  tlierc  is  an  antagonistic  consideration  which  is  far  too 
serious  and  formidable  to  be  ignored.  I  refer  to  the  natural 
tendency  of  population  to  increase  beyond  any  possible  in^rease^ 
in  the  means  of  subsistence,  thus  dooming,  as  is  alleged,  the 
"greaf  majorTfy  of  niaukuid  to  the  miseries  resulting  from 
poverty,  and  overclouding  the  bright  hopes  of  philanthropy  for 
a  coming  era  of  abundance  and  comfort.  It  is  asserted  that  the 
human  race  is  no  exception  to  the  law  which  regulates  all  ani- 
mal life,  and  under  which  a  far  greater  number  of  animated 
existences  are  called  into  being  than  can  find  materials  of  sus- 
tenance, thus  rendering  privation  and  suffering  the  irremediable 
lot  of  the  great  mass  of  mankind,  and  misery,  attended  with 
premature  death,  inevitable.  Competition  for  a  necessarily 
limited  supply  of  food  must  result  in  pinching  poverty,  with  all 
its  miseries  and  vices,  among  those  who  fail  in  the  struggle  for 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENOrSGt 


91 


cxif'tonre.  The  ratio  in  which  food  cnn  be  incroasod  l)y  liuinjin 
skill  and  energy  can  inner  l)c  cqunl  to  the  rate  at  wliich  pojm- 
lation  naturally  increases.  Tliis  redundancy  oFpopuIaluTnTlt 
is  alleged,   is  inevitaI)Te,  iiTm,   unless  re8truinctLili-.auuui_tiuiuu- 

OV  other,  nuist  l.)lj;;lit  tllC  llVl>C9  vt'  llUlUUU  prvtfa'aat 

Tills  is  the  well-known  tlicory  of  population  which  Malthun 
was  the  first  to  expound,  and  whi<'h,  in  its  main  positions,  is 
admitted  to  be  incontrovertible  by  the  ablest  political  econo- 
mists. It  has  be(!n  8U])p()rtcd  by  such  an  array  of  facts  that  its 
hold  on  the  public  mind  can  hardly  be  shaken.  The  author  of 
"The  Kni<rmas  of  Life"  (W.  11.  (irei,^*^),  formulates  the  doe- 
trine  in  the  followiufj;  terms  :  "  Malthus  lays  it  down  as  indis- 
putable and  obvious  that  population,  if  uncheeked,  necessarily 
increases  in  a  geometrical  ratio,  and  that  food,  the  produce  of 
the  soil,  can  only  at  the  outset  and  under  the  most  favorable 
circumstances  increase  in  an  (irilli)netical  ratio.  That  the  in- 
habitants of  a  given  area  or  country  will,  as  is  seen,  actually 
d<)ul)le  their  numbers  in  t\venty-fiv(!  years,  and  might  easily 
double  their  numbers  in  a  much  shorter  time  ;  whereas,  even  if 
we  concede  that  in  the  same  twenty-five  years  the  produce  of 
the  §oil  in  the  same  given  country  or  area  may  be  doubled  like- 
wise, it  is  certain  that  in  the  next  twenty-five  years,  while  the 
po[)ulation  would  again  douI)le  itself,  or  quadruple  its  original 
numbers,  the  soil  could,  at  the  very  utmost,  only  again  add  an 
equal  increment  to  that  of  the  preceding  period,  or  treble  its 
original  yield.  AVhat  is  true  of  a  given  country,  farm,  or  dis- 
trict," he  proceeds  to  say,  must  necessarily  be  true  of  the 
whole  earth  ;  and  neither  emigration,  free  trade,  nor  equal  distri- 
bution of  the  land  can  affect  the  ultimate  result.  All  that  these 
could  effect  would  be  a  temporary  alleviation  of  the  pressure  of 
population  on  subsistence,  and  a  certain  calculable  postpone- 
ment of  the  day  when  the  ultimate  limit  of  possil)le  numbers 
and  the  extreme  point  of  pix'ssure  would  be  reached.  Taking 
a  single  farm  only  into  consideration,  no  man  would  have  the 
hardihood  to  assert  that  its  produce  could  be  made  permanently 
to  keep  pace  with  a  population  increasing  at  such  a  rate, 
as  it  is  observed  to  do,  for   twenty  or   thirty  years  together 


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02 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WINTllER    TENDING  t 


nt  particular  times  ami  in  particular  countries."  This  ia 
obvious  and  undeniable,  and  may  l)e  conceded  at  once.  But, 
Malthus  irocs  on  to  sav  :  "  Notliinj;  but  the  confusion  and  in- 
distinctness  arising  from  the  larj^oness  of  the  subject,  and  the 
va^ue  and  false  notions  which  prevail  respecting  the  efficacy  of 
emigration,  could  make  persons  deny,  in  the  case  of  an  exten- 
sive territory',  or  of  the  w/iole  earth,  what  they  could  not  fail 
to  acknowledge  in  the  case  of  a  single  farm,  which  may  be  said 
fairly  to  represent  it."  There  nuist  always,  everywhere,  and  to 
the  end  of  time  —  he  maintains  —  exce[)t  in  the  rarest  cases, 
and  for  the  briefest  periods  —  l>e  pressure  of  population  on  the 
means  of  subsistence.  "It  ia  to  the  laws  of  nature,  therefore, 
and  not  to  the  conduct  or  institutions  of  man,  that  we  are  to 
attribute  the  necessity  of  a  strong  and  ceaseless  check  on  the 
natural  increase  of  population." 

In  rejrard  to  the  hold  which  the  Malthusian  doctrine  has 
at  present  on  the  minds  of  thinking  men,  Gregg  remarks : 
"Various  theories  have  been  put  forward  in  competition,  but 
none  has  obtained  any  currency,  or  perhaps  deserved  any.  It 
has  remained  the  fixed  axiomatic  belief  of  the  educated  world, 
that  pressure  of  niunbers  on  the  means  of  subsistence  is,'  and 
must  remain,  the  normal  condition  of  humanity  ;  and  that,  in 
conscfpience,  distress  or  privation,  in  one  shape  or  another, 
must  be  the  habitual  lot  of  the  great  majority  of  our  species ; 
since  they  can  only  escape  the  distress  and  privation  arising 
from  insufficient  food  by  voluntarily  embracing  the  distress  and 
privation  involved  in  long-continued,  and,  perhaps,  perpetual 
celibacy.  Ileasoning  the  most  careful  and  cogent  seemed  to 
have  made  this  clear,  and  the  observation  and  experience  of 
every  day  and  every  land  seemed  to  illustrate  or  confirm  it." 

On  the  same  subject  of  the  evils  of  a  redundant  population, 
Hagehot,  in  his  "Physics  and  Politics,"  says:  "In  the  moral 
part  of  the  world  how  many  minds  are  racked  by  incessant 
anxiety  ;  how  many  thoughtful  imaginations  which  might  have 
left  something  to  mankind  are  debased  to  mean  cares  ;  how 
much  every  successive  generation  sacrifices  to  the  next ;  how 
little  does  any  of  them  make  of  itself  in  comparison  with  what  it 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDINOf 


93 


•g 


mJglit  be?  And  how  mnny  Irdands  have  there  heen  in  the  world 
where  men  would  have  been  eontented  and  happy  it'  they  had  only 
fewer ;  how  many  more  Irelands  would  there  have  been  if  the 
intrusive  numbers  had  not  kept  down  by  infanticide,  and  vice, 
and  misery?  How  painful  is  the  conclusion  that  it  is  dubious 
whether  all  the  machihos  and  inventions  of  mankind   '  have  vet 


>w 

tvv 

it 


ligl'tencJ    the  day's  labor  of  a   human  bcinj ! '     They   have 
jjnabled   more  people  to  exist,  but   these  people  work  just  as 
hard,  and  are  just  as  mean  and  miserable  as  the  elder  and  the 
fewer/'___ 

Now  it  may  be  at  once  admitted  that  if  the  law  of  the  rehi- 
tive  increase  of  population  and  food,  as  stated  by  Malthus,  held 
good  absolutely,  and  were  not  counteracted  by  the  operation  of 
other  laws,  the  prospects  of  l.Miiianity  would  be  dimmed,  and 
progress  rendcr^'d  much  more  d».HU)t.".:l.  in  point  of  fact,  how- 
ever, numerous  restraining  agencies  have  been  at  work  in  the 
past ;  and  as  society  advances,  these  counteractive  forces, 
tending  to  prevent  a  redundancy  of  population,  will  be  incrcas- 
ini^lv  felt.  80,  far  from  beinj;  an  uncontrolhvble  evil  which 
we  must  regard  with  helpless  despondency,  u  redundant  popu- 
lation may  be  reckoned  as  a  symptom  of  social  disorders  which 
admit  of  being  mitigati'd  or  removed  ;  while,  at  every  step  of 
intellectual  and  moral  advan<.'e,  society  will  be  more  and  more 
delivered  from  its  perils. 

Although  it  may  be  true  that  population  naturally  tends  to 
increase  faster  than  the  means  of  subsistence,  yet  even  in  the 
past,  owing  to  tl'.o  o|)eration  of  coinitcracting  agencies  of 
various  kinds,  it  may  be  (juestioned  whether  it  can  be  j)roved 
that  such  increase  has  taken  place.  11"  we  take  England  as  an 
instance,  we  find  that  there  a  great  increase  of  population  has 
taken  place,  but  that  such  increase  has  never  been  in  excess  of 
the  increase  of  the  means  of  subsistence.  Maltlius  published 
his  "Essay  on  Pojiulation "'  in  171)8,  and  one  of  his  objects 
was  to  show  the  impossibility  of  feeding  the  then  existing  popu- 
lation of  the  United  Kingdom.  At  that  time  the  population 
was  a  little  under  sixteen  millions  ;  but  in  1?<82  a  population 
of  over  thirty-five  millions  is  maintained  in  far  greater  comfurt 


It 


94 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER   TENDING f 


I 


and  al)nn<liince,  nnd  with  nn  incronec  of  health  and  longevity. 
The  means  ofsubsistenee  liave,  tlierefore,  expanded  more  rapidly 
than  the  population,  owing  mainly  to  the  increase  of  the  pro- 
ductive power  of  machinery.  In  l^i01  England  proper  and 
Wales  had  a  population  of  9,0(>0,9y3  ;  in  eighty  years  it  had 
nearly  trebled,  and  amounted  to  20,400,820,  and  Mr.  (iif^'en's 
statistics,  ah'eady  quoted,  show  that  the  condition  of  every 
class  has  greatly  improved.  Since  1831  population  has 
increased  thirty  per  cent.,  while  capital  has  increased  one  hundred 
per  cent.,  and  purchasing  power  six  hundred  percent.  Thus 
the  growth  of  the  productive  power  of  England,  as  exhibited  in 
its  ca{)ital,  and  of  the  purchasing  |)ower,  as  shown  by  the 
exports  of  manufactures  and  natural  products,  has  kept  fai- 
ahead  of  the  growth  of  her  population. 

What  is  true  of  England  also  holds  good,  to  a  greater  or 
less  extent,  regarding  other  coi'.itries.  Everywhere  it  is  found 
that  food  has  increased  faster  than  the  population.  Famines 
are  rarer  than  in  former  ages  ;  and  though  the  world's  popula- 
tion has  increased,  the  general  condition  of  the  great  masses  of 
the  people  has  improved.  These  facts  indicate  unmistakably 
that  the  actiud  growth  of  population  has  never  approachcil  its 
posnifjle  growth,  as  stated  by  Malthus,  even  where  the  most 
favorable  coiuli.'ions  of  increase  existed.  The  evidence  of  his- 
tory, therefore,  goes  to  show  that  ('t)unteractive  agencies  must 
be  at  work  tending  to  limit  the  natural  increase  of  population. 

We  may  not,  at  present,  be  able  to  discover  what  are  these 
occult  and  unconscious  influences,  but  facts  demonstrate  their 
existence.  We  see  whole  nations,  races,  tribes  and  families 
occasionally  diminishing  in  numbers,  and  finally  becoming 
extinct  from  sonic  secret  causes.  There  are  countries  onco 
jiopulous  in  which  there  are  now  comparatively  ft'w  inhabi- 
tants. The  influences  which,  in  this  way,  check  the  natural 
increase  are  at  present  hidden,  but  no  less  real  on  that  account. 
When  to  these  we  add  the  power  which  society  possesses, 
whether  through  the  force  of  public  sentiment  or  judicious 
legal  enactments,  in  regulating  the  increase  of  its  population, 
it  is  not  ditticult  to  conceive  of  a  social  state  in  which  redun- 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AXD    WHIT  HER    TENDmOt 


95 


dancy  of  population  will  cease  to  be  a  peril  and  source  of  dis- 
quietude. Such  power  will  be  exercised  by  society,  so  soon  us 
it  is  iMidcrstood  that  existing  evils  may  thus  be  lessened,  and 
the  masses  raised  to  a  higher  level  of  virtue,  intelligence,  and 
happiness.  Thus  it  becomes  evident  that,  as  society  advances 
and  moral  and  intellectual  development  increases,  that  reckless 
increase  of  population,  which  leads  to  social  degradation  and 
misery,  must  diminish. 

By  a  great  stretch  of  imagination  we  could  conceive  of  a 
time  when,  with  the  highest  skill  and  organization,  the  greatest 
possible  amount  of  food  should  be  wri'.ng  out  of  the  whole 
surface  of  the  globe.  When  science  has  done  its  utmost  in 
increasing  the  productions  of  the  soil,  and  every  available  spot 
on  earth  has  been  subjected  to  the  highest  degree  of  culture, 
then,  of  course,  the  absolute  limit  to  the  increase  of  popula- 
tion woidd  be  reached,  and  any  further  additions  would  tend 
towards  the  deterioration  of  the  race,  liut  how  distant  is  such 
an  era  need  not  be  pointed  out.  To-day,  to  say  nothing  of  the  vast 
regions  yet  unreclaimed,  both  in  the  Old  World  and  the  New, 
it  may  be  safely  affirmed,  that,  even  in  the  most  densely  peo- 
pled countries,  the  produce  of  the  soil  does  not  reach  half  the 
amount  which  might  be  obtained  by  a  more  skilful  and  careful 
cultivation.  AVe  all  know  how  much  science  has  done  already 
in  improving  the  system  of  agriculture  ;  and  we  can  easily  (^m- 
ceive.  how  nuich  more  it  is  capable  of  accomplishing  in 
increasing  and  turning  to  account  the  riches  of  land  and  sea, 
and  tlius  providing  a  bountifid  table  for  a  vastly  larger  popula- 
tion than  now  occupies  the  globe.  "There  is  every  reason  to 
believe,"  says  the  author  of  "The  Enigmas  of  Lile,"  "that  the 
Euro[)ean  continent  could  support  three  or  four  times  its  present 
numbers,  and  that  a  similar  conclusion  may  be  a<lopted  with 
abuost  cfjual  cerlainty  in  reference  to  a  great  part  of  Asia  and 
])erhaps  the  whole  of  Africa  ;  that  probal)ly  in  Africa,  and  cer- 
taiulv  in  the  two  Americas,  there  are  vast  tracts  of  fertile  land, 
with  fair,  if  not  splendid  climates,  which  are  scanu-ly  iidiabited 
at  all,  and  others  which  contain  a  mere  sprinkling  of  human 
beings  ;  and  that  in  Australasia  the  case  is  even  strongei:.     In 


96 


WHERE  ARE    WE  ASD    WHITHER    TEXDmOt 


I 


■    I'     } 


fine,  while  Belgium  nnd  Lombanly,  which  arc  the  best 
peopled  dintricts  in  Europe,  contain  about  four  hundred  souls 
to  the  square  mile,  Paraj^uay  contains  only  four,  Brazil 
only  three,  and  the  Argentine  Bepublic  only  one.  From 
the  aggregate  of  these  facts  we  are  warranted  in  concluding 
that  an  indefinite  number  of  generations  and  long  periods 
of  time  must  elapse  bv?fore  the  world  can  be  fully  peopled, 
—  that  l)efore  that  consummation  shall  be  reached  we  have 
cycles  of  years  to  traverse,  ample  to  afford  space  for  all 
the  influences  which  civilization  may  develop  to  operate 
to  their  uttermost  extent.  .  .  .  The  world  is  in  no 
danger  of  being  over-peopled  just  at  present,  whiUever  locitt 
congestion  uxwy  exist.  Centuries  nujst  elapse  before  population 
really  presses,  or,  at  least,  need  to  press,  severely  on  the  means 
of  subsistence,  and  civilization  will  have  time  enough  to  do  its 
work,  to  perfect  its  resources,  and  to  bring  all  lands  and  all 
mankind  under  its  modifying  influences." 

One  more  consideration  remains  as  an  offset  to  the  Malthusian 
doctrine  ;  but,  as  it  belongs  to  the  department  of  physiology,  I 
can  only  briefly  allude  to  it  here.  I  refer  to  the  law,  which  a 
wide  induction  of  facts  has  now  established,  that  the  hijrher 
intellectual  and  moral  development  of  individuals  is  attended 
with  a  diminution  in  the  number  of  their  offspring.  This  means 
that,  on  an  average,  the  families  of  the  educated,  refined,  and 
intellectual  will  be  less  numerous  than  those  of  the  uneducated 
and  unintellectual.  The  more  advanced,  therefore,  the  moral 
and  intellectual  development  of  the  human  race,  the  less  the 
risk  from  a  redundancy  of  population.  Superabundant  fecun- 
dity marks  the  lower  stages  of  development,  but  is  modified 
and  limited  in  the  higher,  as  the  intellectual  energies  obtain 
the  preponderance  over  the  anin)al.  Early  society  is  marked 
by  a  rapid  increase  of  numbers  ;  but  this  excess  of  human 
nature  is  corrected  and  kept  within  due  bounds  as  the  race 
becomes  n)ore  intellectual  and  emotional.  This,  no  doubt, 
constitutes  the  strongest  safeguard  against  the  evils  referred  to, 
and  assures  the  future  j)rogress  of  the  race.  It  is  not 
dependent  on  volition  or  social  arrangements,  but  is  regulated 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AM)    WHIT  HER    TENDING? 


97 


ll 
le 
j- 
(1 
m 

Hi 

in 
t, 


by  natural  law.  The  reduction  in  the  rate  of  increase  ia  n 
necesxary  physiological  result  of  intellectual  advance ;  in  other 
words,  of  civilization. 

Ilcrhcrt  Spencer,  the  pliilosopher  who  has  most  carefully 
investigated  this  subject,  says  :  "  The  highest  form  of  the  main- 
tenance of  race  is  that  in  which  the  amount  of  life  shall  be 
the  greatest  possible,  and  the  births  and  deaths  the  fewest 
possible.  The  excess  of  fertility  has  rendered  the  process  of 
civilization  inevitable ;  and  the  process  of  civilization  nnist 
inevitably  di'miuish  fertility,  and  at  last  destroy  its  excess.  From 
the  beginning  ^^ressure  of  populatit)n  has  been  the  proximate 
cause  of  j)rogress.  It  produced  the  original  diffusion  of  the 
race.  It  compelled  men  to  abandon  pre<latory  habits  and  take 
to  airnculture.  It  led  to  the  clearing  of  the  earth's  surface. 
It  forced  men  into  the  social  state ;  made  social  organization 
inevitable,  and  thus  developed  the  social  sentiments.  It  has 
stimulated  to  progressive  improvements  in  production,  and  to 
increased  skill  and  intolligencc.  It  is  daily  thrusting  us  into 
closer  contact  and  more  mutually  dependent  relationships.  And 
after  having  caused,  as  it  ultimately  must,  the  due  peopling 
of  the  globe,  and  the  raising  of  all  its  hal)itablc  parts  into  the 
highest  state  of  culture  ; — after  having  brought  all  processes  for 
the  s.atlsfactlon  of  human  wants  to  perfection  ;  — after  having  at 
the  same  time  developed  the  Intellect  into  complete  competency 
for  its  work,  and  the  feelings  into  complete  fitness  for  social 
life — the  pressure  of  population,  as  it  gradually  finishes  its 
work,  must  gradually  bring  itself  to  an  end." 

Thus,  while  we  admit  the  truth  and  Importance  of  Malthtis' 
doctrine,  and  the  great  value  of  his  work,  which  struck  out  a 
new  path  of  social  incjuiry,  it  is  evident  that  many  counter- 
active influences  are  at  work  whicii  he  failed  to  take  into 
account,  and  which,  when  understood,  are  seen  to  militate 
affalnst  the  conclusion  at  which  he  arrived.  That  conclusion 
was  that  the  only  preventive  of  a  redundant  population  lay 
in  a  prudential  delay  in  the  time  of  marriage.  Galton  has 
shown  conclusively  that  the  practice  of  such  a  doctrine  wouhl 
be  highly  injurious  to  the  well-being  of  the  race.     "  The  doc- 


I 


^ 


' 


if 

ill'"' 


98 


WHERE  A  HE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDING  t 


trine,"  he  enys,  "would  only  be  followed  by  the  prudent  and 
Helf'-denying,  and  would  be  neylceted  by  the  inipidtfivc  and 
self-seeking.  Those  whose  vaee  we  especially  want  to  have 
would  leave  few  defendants,  while  those  whose  race  we  espe- 
cially want  to  be  quit  of,  would  crowd  the  vacant  upace  with 
their  progeny,  and  the  strain  of  population  wouhl  thcncefor- 
wanl  be  just  as  pressing  as  before.  There  would  have  been  a 
little  relief  dining  one  or  two  generations,  but  no  permanent 
increase  of  the  general  happiness,  while  the  rest  of  the  nation 
would  have  deteriorated.  The  jmictical  application  of  the 
doctrine  of  deferred  marriage?  would  therefore  lead  indirectly 
to  most  mischievous  results,  that  were  overlooked  owing  to  the 
neglect  of  considerations  bearing  on  race.  While  criticising 
the  main  conclusion  to  which  Malthus  came,  I  must  take  the 
opportunity  of  paying  my  humble  tribute  of  admiration  to  h'n 
great  and  original  work,  which  seems  to  me  like  the  rise  of  a 
morning  star  before  a  day  of  free  social  investigation."  Again 
Gallon  remarks  :  "  1  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  it  is  a 
most  |)ernicious  rule  of  conduct  in  its  bearings  upon  race.  Its 
effect  would  be  such  as  to  cause  the  race  of  the  prudent  to  fall, 
after  a  few  centuries,  into  an  almost  incredible  inferiority  of 
numbers  to  that  of  the  imprudent,  and  it  is  therefore  calculated 
to  bring  utter  ruin  upon  the  breed  of  any  country  where  the 
doctrine  prevailed.  I  protest  against  the  abler  races  being 
encouraged  to  withdraw  in  this  way  from  the  struggle  for  exist- 
en(!e.  It  may  seem  monstrous  that  the  weak  should  be  crowded 
out  by  the  strong  ;  but  it  is  still  more  monstrous  that  races  best 
fitted  to  play  their  part  on  the  stage  of  life  should  be  crowded 
out  by  the  incompetent,  the  ailing,  and  desponding." 

These  views  seem  to  me  indisputal)Ie.  The  improvement 
and  stability  of  the  race  cannot  l)e  secured  in  the  way  indicated 
by  Malthus.  Still,  the  more  fully  the  laws  of  heredity  are 
nnderstood,  the  more  evident  it  becomes  that  man  possesses  an 
immense  power  over  the  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  im- 
provement of  his  race  by  an  intelligent  obedience  to  those 
organic  laws.  Educational  culture  can  do  much,  within  certain 
limits ;  but  far  more    depends  on  the  inherited   nature,   with 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDISOt 


91) 


he 


ted 
lure 

iiti 
im- 

jse 
bin 

Sth 


its  aptitudes,  impulses,  and  powers.  In  the  improvement  of 
that  nature,  through  raisinjij  the  qualities  of  the  race,  lies 
larf^ely  the  hope  of  humanity  in  the  future  ;  and  man  is  befifin- 
niufjf  to  understand  that  here  he  i«  a  free  man,  with  the  power 
of  inHuenein<5  the  (lualities  of  the  cominp;  race,  and  securing 
the  development  of  a  more  perfect  humanity. 

Man  now  finds  himself  "the  heir  of  all  the  ages,"  —  the 
inheritor  of  all  the  treasures  accumulated  in  the  past.  We 
have  seen  how,  as  society  advanced,  he  has  acquired  a  mastery 
over  nature's  forces  and  an  adaptation  to  its  requirements ; 
how  he  has  become  more  gentle,  intelligent,  and  humane : 
how  he  has  greatly  improved  his  dwelling-place  and  his  own 
social  ondition.  He  can  now  unite  with  his  fellows  in  provid- 
ing against  the  contingencies  and  wants  of  the  future.  He 
finds  himself  in  the  van  of  circumstance,  and  coujpetent  to 
secure  his  own  interests  by  patient  and  enlightened  exertion. 
Is  it,  then,  inconceivable  that,  in  the  future,  by  an  enlightened 
course  of  action,  he  may  be  able  immensely  to  enlarge  tiie  best 
gifts  and  endowments  of  his  nature?  "How  consonant  is  it," 
says  Galton,  in  his  "Hereditary  Genius,"  "to  all  analogy  and 
experience  to  expect  that  the  control  of  the  nature  of  future 
generations  should  be  as  nuich  within  the  power  of  the  living 
as  the  health  and  well-being  of  the  individual  is  in  the  power 
of  guardians  of  his  youth  !  "  It  may  be  truly  said,  then,  that 
in  his  present  stage  of  progress,  n»an  has  "  come  of  age,"  and 
can  now  undertake  the  management  of  his  own  affairs. 

Of  all  the  races  of  men  with  which  history  makes  us  ac- 
quainted the  finest  undoubtedly  was  that  of  ancient  Greece, 
especially  the  Athenians.  Their  intellectual  productions  are 
still,  after  the  lapse  of  Iwo  thousand  years,  admitted  to  be 
Ma8ter[)ieces,  to  which  moderns  look  up  with  envy  and  ad- 
miration. Tlielr  genfus  TsTtTie  louat  of  inspiration  to  the  fore- 
most thinkers  in  our  own  day.  "We  have  no  men,"  saytj 
Galton,  in  his  "  Hereditary  Genius,"  "  to  put  by  the  side^of 
Socrsitea  and  Phidias,  because  the  millions  of  all  Europe, 
"IB^edrhg  as  they  have  done  fcnr  the  snbscqncnt  two  thousand 
years,  have  never  produced  their  equals.     The  average  ability 


11 


4 


.x 


100 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AS'D    WIIITI/ER    TEXDmOt 


of  the  Athenian  race  ia,  on  the  loweat  poHsiblc  cstimntp,  very 
nearly  two  gradca  higher  than  our  own  ]  that  is.  about  as  much 
as  our  race  is  above  that  of  the  African  nogro.  Thin  estimate, 
wliich  may  sooiu  pro(li;ri()U8  ti)  womc,  is  coiitirnicti  i>y  the  quick 
intcllijjencc  and  hi<jh  culture  of  the  Athenian  commonalty, 
before  whom  literary  works  were  recited  and  works  of  art 
exhibited  of  a  far  more  severe  character  than  could  possibly  be 
appreciated  by  the  average  of  our  race,  the  calil)re  of  whose 
intellect  is  easily  gauged  by  a  glance  at  the  contents  of  a 
railway  book-stall." 

Now,  let  us  suppose  that,  under  the  elevating  and  improv- 
ing influences  to  which  we  have  referred,  the  average  standard 
of  intelle<;tual  al)ility  and  moral  attainment  of  our  own  day 
were  to  be  raised  only  one  grade,  so  as  to  approximate  to  the 
Greek  type,  what  would  be  the  result?  One  result  would  be 
a  great  increase  iu  the  number  of  those  justly  named  "  great 
men,"  whose  superior  energies  and  ai)ilities  would  lift  society 
to  higher  levels.  The  world's  progress  must  ever  be  largely 
dependent  on  its  great  men  :  — 

•'  Thp  ebbs  and  the  flows  of  wbose  single  soul 
Arc  tiiles  to  the  rest  of  mankind." 

They  lead  the  van  and  guide  the  march.  The  illustrious 
scientific  discoverers,  ])hilosophers,  religious  and  moral  re- 
formers, statesmen,  law-givers,  commanders,  are  the  men  whose 
thoughts  mould  the  ages  and  aid  largely  in  accelerating  human 
progress.  Take  away  these,  and  the  whole  course  of  history 
would  be  different  from  what  we  now  find  it.  Increase  the 
number  of  these  in  any  people  and  you  enlarge  their  intellect- 
ual and  moral  forces,  —  you  increase  the  brain  of  the  nation. 
Now,  the  higher  the  average  standard  of  ability  is  raised  in 
smy  race  the  more  numerous  becomes  its  class  of  first-rate  men, 
and  the  more  rapid  its  advance.  Not  only  so,  but  the  general 
I'lmd  of  ability  for  work  in  the  whole  community  is  increased 
with  the  rise  in  grade  ;  and  all  become  better  fitted  to  grapple 
with  the  tasks  allotted  to  them.  It  is  an  ominous  8i<;n  when 
the  supply  of  great  men  in  any  nation  falls  off  and  proves 


WHERE  ARE    WR  A  SI)    W II  IT  HER    TEA'DLVOt 


101 


ii 


inndoquntc  to  meet  tho  (l(>iniiiul!4  ever  arising  from  the  compli- 
cated relatione)  of  modern  Noeiety.  It  is  no  less  ominous  when 
an  advancing  civilization  calls  for  more  mental  and  moral 
power,  more  hrain  and  stamina,  than  society  can  sup^ily,  in 
order  to  regulate  and  carry  on  efticiently  its  multiform  affairs. 
The  only  cure  for  such  a  condition  is  an  elevation  of  tho 
avera«;e  ..■"tandanl  of  ahilitv.  To  this  1  believe  we  are  elowlv 
hut  steadily  tending  at  the  present  day ;  though  most  will 
allow  that  for  the  vast  work  rc(|uired  in  this  hurrying,  feverish 
age,  with  its  ra()id  changes  and  confused  and  conHi<'ting  inter- 
ests, a  vastly  greater  supply  of  ahle  men  is  needed  than  is  now 
availahle.  While  \v(!  re"  '.'rence  the  leaders  of  thought  in 
former  times,  and  feel  the  worth  of"  the  great  of  old,  the  dead 
yet  8ceptre<l  sovrans  who  still  rule  our  spirits  from  their 
urns,"  we  still  want  fresh  supplies  of  great  men  for  the  hour 
which  has  dawned  upon  us,  with  all  its  new  and  complicated 
demands  and  duties.  In  them  our  race  attains  a  higher 
evolution  and  a  new  departure.  They  will  appear  in  due  time. 
The  forces  of  humanity,  which,  in  the  order  of  Providence, 
produce  them,  are  not  exhausted.  With  "  the  hour  "  will  ever 
appear  "  the  man." 

The  progressive  amelioration  of  human  condition,  and  even 
the  pcrfeetihility  of  the  human  race,  in  the  far-otf  future,  are 
thus  seen  to  be  no  mere  vision  of  the  excited  imagination, 
no  unlbundcd  fanatical  hope.  AVith  George  Eliot  we  may 
say  :  — 

"  I  too  rest  in  faith 
That  man's  perfection  is  tlit'  crowniny;  tiowcr 
Towanis  wiiieli  tiie  urjii-nt  sap  in  iitu'.t  proat  tree 
Is  ])ri'.<sin};,  —  fwu  in  i>nny  liiossoins  now, 
IJut  on  tiiu  world's  jfroat  morrow  to  cxpanil, 
With  broadest  petal  and  witii  deepest  glow." 


le 
n 


restmg 


The  great  elevating  forces  are  at  work,  "unhasting,  but  un- 
Ncver,  surely,  were  there  such  grounds  for  hopefid, 
courageous  effort  as  in  the  present  age,  with  all  its  drawbacks  and 
imperfections.  Still,  we  must  not  permit  the  gh)W  of  a  hope 
too  intense  to  mislead  us  into  expectations  of  vast  instalments  of 


1 


I 


Ali' 


11 


102 


WrTERE  ARE   WE  AND    WniTllER    TEXniyOf 


the  millennium  in  tlu*  nonr  future.     Fatimoc  must  mingle  with 
our  hope,  lor  (he  margin  for  our  free  effort  is  narrow. 

"  Nor  will  that  day  dawn  at  u  liuinnn  ncxi, 
When,  burHtin){  tlirougli  tin*  nrt-work  Rupcrpoied, 
By  seifloh  occupation,  —  plot  und  plan, 

'•  Lunt.  avarice,  envy,  —  liberated  man, 

All  difTer'Mii-o  with  Iiim  fcilow-niurtul  dosed, 
Shall  lie  left  atandini;  face  to  fuco  with  God." 

Arnold. 

The  all-important  conclusion,  however,  which  seems  to  be 
eHtablislied  by  an  appeal  to  the  facts  of  nature  and  of  liiHtory, 
is  that  man  is  conquering  more  and  more  of  moral  freedom, 
ac(]uiring  a  greater  mawtery  over  liis  own  destiny,  and,  by  his 
conscious  efforts  in  harmony  with  th(>  unconscious  labor  of  the 
ages,  he  is  wiiming  better  and  better  contlitions  for  the  hiunan 
race. 

In  all  ages,  however,  views  of  life  antagonistic  to  these,  and 
more  or  less  tinged  with  the  pessimistic  spirit,  have  commended 
themselves  to  certain  orders  of  mind.  Human  life  and  destiny 
have  a|)peared  to  such  dark  and  hopeless,  the  misery  far  out- 
weighing the  happiness,  the  hope  of  imjirovcineiit  a  n>ere  dclu- 
sitm.  In  extreme  forms  these  despondent  views  of  existence 
have  vented  themselves  in  bitter  denunciations  of  life  and  pas- 
sionate outcries  against  its  evils  and  disajjpointments.  To  such 
minds  the  spectacle  of  human  life  has  presented  itself  either  as 
a  series  of  wild  orgies,  hideous  or  grotesque,  or  as  a  stupid 
exhibition  of  foolish  or  degrading  impulses.  In  its  scientific 
and  spccidative  form,  pessimism  endeavors  to  prove  that  hinnan 
life  alwavs  is  and  must  be  an  excess  of  miserv.  German  pessi- 
mism  boldly  proclaims  that  all  existence,  as  such,  is  necessarily 
burdensome,  baneful,  and  a  thing  to  be  deplored.  The 
founder  of  this  system  —  Schopenhauer  —  only  half  seriously, 
perhaps,  held  this  to  be  "the  worst  of  all  possible  worlds,  as 
bad  as  it  possibly  can  be  to  exist  at  all."  He  denied  not  only 
the  reality  of  happiness  in  the  past  and  present,  but  also  the 
possibility  of  its  attainment  in  the  future.     Such  a  system,  if  it 


WriERE  ARE    WE  AXD    WIIITIIER    rEXDIXGf 


103 


l)OCiimo  prevalent,  would,  like  the  ntnr  "  WormwrxMl,"  In  the  Wnok 
uf  Kuvcliition,  turn  all  lli(>  tountainH  oCtlif'  earth  into  liittrrne>«M. 
Life  would  eease  to  he  "worth  livin|L(,"  and  heconie  a  wearimunc 
hurdcn,  wliieh  we  shoidd  Ix;  ;;lad  to  lay  down,  ('onij)aratively 
few,  prrhapH,  have  held  thitt  (>.\treine  form  of  |)(^s8i^li^«nl  ;  l>ut 
many,  in  llavse  days»,  are  heeoniinj^  inshued  with  it«  spirit,  more 
or  lesH,  and  an;  livin*;  in  the  hhadow8,  rather  than  the  hri^Witneng 
of  life.  Much  of  our  literature  and  poetry  iw  "nieklied  t>*er 
with  th(!  pale  cast  "  of  pe^«.>*imi^>m  ;  and,  imcon.seioiiMJy,  muiiy  are 
inipresised  with  low  and  isonihn;  views  of  human  life,  which  to 
them  pn'scnts  no  nohle  meanin<j;,  no  worthy  purpose.  The 
practical  result  of  wueh  viewH  nmst  he  to  paraly/»!  moral  efl'ort 
for  the  improvement  of  the  world.  On  the  other  hand,  a  <'on- 
viction  of  the  worth  and  nohility  (tf  existence  will  give?  an 
impulse  to  all  <xenerous  efforts  toward  the  increase  of  its  heauty 
and  happincM^i. 

There  can  he  no  douht  that  nuicli  depends  on  the  t(Mnpern- 
meiit  and  disposition  of  (Ik;  individual,  as  to  the  character  of 
his  \icws  of  lil'e  and  the  world  as  a  whole.  The  huoyant  and 
hopeful  will  he  inclined  to  the  optiinistic,  or,  at  least,  thcmelio- 
ristie  views  of  existence ;  while  the  <f|oomy  and  (pierulous 
will  see  tlieir  own  feelinirs  and  sensations  reflected  in  life,  ami 
will  l)(!  more  or  less  pessimistic.  Outward  circumstances,  ton, 
have  a  powerful  influence  on  the  feelinjjs.  Disappoi  itments, 
losses,  adverse  social  conditions  tend  to  create  morhid  views  «tf 
life.  Under  jfreat  suffering,  even  a  stron<;-minded  man  mav 
give  way,  and,  like  Joh,  "curse  his  day  ;"  or,  experienciui;  the 
emptiness  of  earthly  joys,  may  ery  out  with  the  writer  of  Kccle- 
siastes,  that  "All  is  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit."'  There  are, 
too,  nohle  and  sensitive  spirits  who  realize  only  too  deeply  the 
wei<fht  of  tlu!  world's  woe,  the  vast  misi'ry  that,  in  its  cumula- 
tive form,  seeujs,  lik;-  a  dark  sha(l(»w,  to  hrood  over  human 
existence;  and,  feeling  keerdy  the  s«>ml)re  mystery  of  it  all, 
the  pathos  and  sadness  of  life,  their  finer  sensihilities  incline 
them  to  a  sentimental  pessimism.  Sehellrnj^  sj)eakri  of  "  Tlu? 
sadness  which  cleaves  to  all  finite  life  —  of  the  deep  and  inde- 
etructiblc  melaneholy  of  all  life,  and  of  the  veil  of  depression 


104 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER   TENDIKOf 


f 


\4 


I    i 


which  is  spread  over  the  whole  of  nature."  Many,  too,  incline 
towards  pessimism  hy  way  of  protest  against  an  empty,  super- 
ficial optimism.  Thry  arc  determined  to  understand  life  as  it 
is, —  not  to  ignore  its  disagreeable  facts,  or  yield  to  traditionid 
illusions.  The  new  views  disclosed  by  science  have  apparently 
stripped  life  of  some  of  its  sanctity  and  Aiorth  i  and  as  yet 
have  not  furnished  for  them  any  new  ins[)iring  ideas  —  any 
outlets  for  their  emotional  nature.  For  these  and  in. my  other 
reasons  whi('h  might  be  enumerated,  many  superior  and  sensi- 
tive minds  are  bent  in  the  pessimistic  direction.  Hence  the 
impression  that,  in  various  forms,  the  pessimistic  spirit  is  invad- 
injjr  the  mind  (»f  the  age. 

In  Germany,  philosophic  pessimism  has  met  with  a  wide 
acceptance  ;  and  in  France  and  Kussia  the  apostles  of  mod- 
ern pessimism  have  many  followers.  Ivan  Turgenieff,  the 
great  Russian  novelist,  is  tinged  with  the  pessimistic  temper, 
which,  in  his  writings,  so  oi'ten  moves  and  charms  us  with 
its  pathos  and  tenderness,  notwithstanding  the  despairing 
pictures  of  life  in  which  it  is  expressed.  The  wj'itings 
of  Schopenhauer  and  llartmann  have  lately  been  translated 
and  j)ublished  in  England.  All  this  seems  to  indicate  the 
spread  of  pessimism.  The  social  inequalities  which  are  now 
more  keenly  felt, —  the  few  rolling  in  wealth  and  luxury,  the 
vast  numbers  doomed  to  toil  and  poverty, —  the  weltering 
masses  in  the  gulf  of  pauperism,  —  the  disappointed  and 
thwarted  [)olitical  aims  of  the  millions  who  are  asjiiring  after 
freedom,  have  awakened  the  inquiry.  Are  these  inequalities  and 
oppressions  a  result  ef  the  immutable  lavvs  of  nature  ?  The 
remedy  is  not  yet  seen  ;  the  way  of  deliverance  by  hopeful 
ameliorations  of  luiman  lot  has  not  yet  disclosed  itself  to  the 
suffering  multitudes.  Hence  dark  and  depressing  views  of  life 
iiiul  an  echo  in  their  hearts.  In  the  present  stage  of  progress, 
pesfLiuiism,  in  its  milder  forms,  is  inevitable,  perhaps  justifiable. 

Few  of  the  more  thoughtful  spirits  have  not  their  pessimistic 
moments,  when  the  great  questions  concerning  humanity  which 
arc  now  agitating  men's  iuinds  are  felt  pressing  on  the  heart 
in  uU  their  vastness  and  uncertainty.     The  mind,  at  times, 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER   TENDING? 


105 


becomes  we.ary  and  faint  in  presence  of  life's  perplexing 
enigmas.  As  the  world  improves,  ami  life  becomes  better 
"  worth  living, "  it  is  reasonable  to  expect  that  pessimistic  views 
of  existence  will  become  rarer ;  but,  meantime,  it  must  be 
allowed  that  pessimism  often  sounds  a  true  note.  The  helpless- 
ness, the  misery,  the  anguish,  and  the  unrealized  aspirations  of 
60  many  millions  of  our  race  constitute  its  justification.  The 
apparent  mingling  of  maleficent  with  beneficent  elements  in 
nature,  from  our  limited  staiul-i)oint,  suggests  many  of  its 
sombre  views.  The  tragic  element  undenial)ly  mingles  largely 
in  human  life.  The  impotence  of  noble  eflPorts  ;  the  tragical 
defeats  of  many  of  the  bravest  and  best ;  the  frequent  blighting 
of  the  fairest  promises  of  goodness,  —  all  these  arc  too  ter- 
ribly true  in  the  pages  of  human  record  and  in  every-day 
experience.  That,  to  some,  the  destiny  of  man  should  present 
itself  in  hues  of  gloom  and  darkness  is  not  surprising,  liut, 
the  great  matter  is  to  remember  that  all  the  truth  is  not  eoii> 
prehended  in  such  views,  —  that  they  are  but  partial  and  imi)er- 
fect  glimpses,  —  that  our  poor  world  has  given  us  many  saints, 
martyrs,  heroes,  whose  toils  and  sufferings  have  borne  a  rich 
fruitage,  and  blessed  and  benefited  millions, —  many  successful 
cultivators  of  science  who  have  enlarged  the  boundaries  of 
knowledge  and  reduced  the  empire  of  darkness  and  su|K'rsti- 
tion,  —  many  great  in  song,  and  in  art,  who  have  j)eo[)le(l  the 
realms  of  imagination  with  noble  creations  of  genius, —  many 
"happy  warriors,"  —  many  who  have  sacrificed  themselves  for 
the  welfare  of  others  ;  and  their  offering  was  not  in  vain,  for 
it  enriched  humanity.  At  the  l)est,  therefore,  tiie  pessimist's 
representation  of  life  nnist  be  [jronouuced  [)artial  and  (let'ective. 
It  is  still  asked,  Whither  does  it  all  tend?  To  what 
earthly  heights  is  man  destined  to  rise  as  he  ascends  the 
steeps  of  time?  Who  can  preteu'l  to  solve  tlie  great  mys- 
tery? A  knowledge  of  the  final  reason  of  this  great  universe 
is  denied  to  the  eager  heart  (jf  man,  and  can  be  known  (inly 
to  the  Infinite  Mind.  We  only  know  that  w(!  are  parts  of  a 
vast  system  with  which  our  destinies  are  bound  up.  Still,  we 
may  say  with  Shakesp(?are,  — 

"In  nature's  infinite  book  of  secrecy  a  little  I  cun  road." 


i;"; 


\  7- 


III 


lOG 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER   TENDING f 


And  that  little  tells  us  that  human  progress  is  a  reality  ;  that 
man  is  moving  towards  a  loftier  position  in  the  universe  of  (jod, 
and  that  all  whieh  has  yet  been  attained  is  but  a  j)relude  of  what 
the  evolution  of  the  affcs  will  disclose.  Instead  of  indulffinjj  in 
rash  guesses  regarding  human  destiny,  let  us  rather  assume  a 
reverent  and  humble  attitude,  and  with  the  poet  say :  — 

"  I  do  not  know,  nor  will  I  vainly  question 
Those  pages  of  the  mystic  book  which  hold 

The  story  still  untold  ; 
IJut  without  rash  conjecture  or  sugfjestion 
Turn  its  last  leaves  in  reveience  and  good  heed 

Until  'The  End'  I  read." 

There  is,  however,  one  final  consideration  which  should 
banish  doubt  regarding  these  ijrophccies  of  a  more  g'')riou8 
destiny  for  man.  For  eighteen  hundred  years  Christianity  — 
the  religion  of  love  and  hope — has  been  at  work  in  the;  world, 
slowly  leavening  the  foremost  nations  of  the  earth  with  its 
divine  spirit,  promoting  civilization  and  progress,  quickening 
thought,  purifying  morals,  and  breathing  a  more  humane  and 
tender  spirit  into  human  souls.  With  all  the  corruptions 
and  perversions  which  Christianity  has  suffered  in  the  ruder 
ages  of  the  past,  and  notwithstanding  all  the  cruelties  and 
persecutions  which  have  been  perpetrated  in  its  name,  it  has 
been  one  of  the  mightiest  factors  of  civilization  and  moral 
progress.  It  has  comuuuiicatcd  that  onward  impulse  and 
kindled  that  undying  hope  of  man's  future,  wanting  which 
science,  philosophy,  and  art  would  have  been  comparatively 
powerless.  Its  presence  still  —  as  one  of  the  mightiest  forces 
in  modern  society — furnishes  the  best  guarantee  of  the  per- 
manency of  human  progress.  Its  pure  and  lofty  morality 
is  still  far  ahead  of  the  most  civilized  comnumities  of  Europe 
and  America,  and  still  furnishes  a  standard  of  excellence  tow- 
ards which  they  will  do  well  to  as[)ire.  In  fact,  we  may 
*ruly  say  that  its  divine  power  is  yet  but  very  partially  felt, 
!"ul  that  a  real  Christian  era  is  vet  to  come.  Xo  nation  has 
yet  adopted  the  moral  code  of  the  religion  whose  essence  is 
L)ve  as  its  overruling  law.      When  its  spirit  pervades  human 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDTNOt 


107 


society,  and  its  principles  become  the  guide  of  life,  the  dawn 
of  the  rnillenniuin  will  have  appeared.  Meantime,  the  world 
needs  as  much  as  ever  that  mighty  quickening,  el  vating  power 
of  Chrisitianity  which  in  past  ages  hound  togetlu-r  the  nations 
of  Euro|)e  and  battled  successfully  against  the  animalism, 
the  brutal  jjassions,  the  selfishness,  greed,  and  cruelties  which 
defaced  humanity.  These  are  still  its  foes,  and  against  these 
it  carries  on  an  undying  warfare.  I  speak  not  now  of  organ- 
izations or  churches,  but  of  the  great  life-giving  power  of 
Christianit}',  its  all-embracing  love,  its  quenchless  hope,  its 
sublime  doctrine  of  the  fatherhood  of  God.  And,  viewed  in 
its  grander  as!i)ects,  I  believe  that  it  is,  and  must  continue  to  be, 
the  hope  of  humanity. 

And  it  is  just  because  Christianity  is  a  progressive  religion, 
and  able  to  adapt  itself  to  the  ever-varying  conditions  of  human 
life  and  the  evolution  of  social  institutions,  that  it  has  retained 
its  hold  upon  the  mind  of  the  age,  and  will  continue  to  do  so. 
If  it  were  a  mere  stereotyped  system  of  dogma,  —  if  it  pro- 
claimctl  finality,  and  hostility  to  free  inquiry,  —  if  it  were  the 
enemy  of  science,  and  ever  engaged  in  gazing  backward,  —  if  it 
had  no  welcome  for  the  fresh  and  vigorous  thought  of  to-day, 
and  no  response  to  the  throbbings  of  the  new  a^'-e  that  has 
dawned  upon  us,  then,  indeed,  we  might  conclude  that  it  was 
"  waxing  old  like  a  garment,"  and  was  doomed  to  disappear, 
lint  its  vitality  is  proclaimed  by  its  growth  and  the  confident 
freedom  with  which  it  alters  itself  to  meet  the  new  conditions 
which  each  new  age  brings  with  it,  —  and  this  without  losing 
any  of  its  grand  essentials.  Its  forms  change  and  die,  but  its 
spirit  lives  and  embodies  itself  in  new  and  more  l)caiitiful 
forms.  Just  because  it  is  one  of  those  things  "whicii  cannot  be 
shaken  "  it  must  grow  and  change,  otherwise  it  could  not  be 
permanent.  The  religious  concejjtions  and  beliefs  of  men  nnist 
exj)and  with  advancing  intelligence  and  greater  s[)irituality  ; 
and  were  they  irrevocably  fixed,  they  would  soon  sink  into 
decay  and  death.  The  religious  convictions  of  our  forefathers 
could  no  more  be  ours,  in  their  entirety,  than  could  be  their 
customs,  their  mode  of  speech,  or  their  dress ;  for  these  beliefs 


108 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER   TENDING  f 


are  modified  and  altered  with  the  advance  of  knowledge.  Thus 
"the  increasing  purpose"  which  runs  through  the  ages  ever 
realizes  new  modifications  of  religious  belief. 

Why  should  we  dread  such  growth  and  expansion  ?  They  come 
by  no  caprice  or  accident,  but  by  a  divine  law.  The  controver- 
sies with  which  the  religious  world  is  now  ringing  are  just  the 
phases  of  a  new  development.  Some  existing  phases  of  belief 
which  have  grown  old  are  disapi)caring,  just  as  similar  changes 
have  occurred  in  the  past ;  and  the  creeds  and  forms  of  Christian- 
ity are  adjusting  themselves  to  the  conditions  of  the  new  intel- 
lectual day.  But  its  vitality  is  not  inipaired  in  the  pnicess,  and 
its  glory  is  not  dimmed,  but  brightened.  As  the  Rev.  Professor 
Flint,  of  Edinburgh  University,  said  recently,  "The  ecclesiastical 
world  has  been  always  peculiarlv  slow  to  give  heed  to  the  words 
"Let  the  dead  bury  their  dead  ;"  but,  he  added,  those  who  aim 
at  such  enlargements  "  can  at  least  strive  in  the  assured  faith  that 
they  arc  on  the  side  of  freedom  and  of  science,  of  religious 
progress,  and  the  ])ublic  good."  "  A  great  discoverer  in  science 
may  contribute,  by  the  light  which  he  throws  on  the  character 
of  God,  and  by  the  beneficial  effects  of  his  discoveries,  far  more 
to  the  establishment  and  fjrowth  of  the  Kinjjdom  of  Christ 
than  a  thousand  preachers."  "The  Faculties  of  Law  and 
Theology  both  need  great  enlargement,  and  the  latter,  per- 
haps, organic  changes." 

These  are  the  opinions  of  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  living 
theologians.  lie  recognizes  the  great  truth  that  our  eyistinjj 
theologies  arc  all  developments  from  the  religious  beliefs  of  tormer 
ages,  and  nnist  differ  widely  from  their  predecessors.  There 
have  been  growth  and  expansion  ;  and,  as  our  religious  ideas 
and  forms  are  far  from  having  reached  perfection,  there  nmst 
continue  to  be  similar  advances.  From  the  beginning  there 
has  been  an  apocalypse,  which  has  increased  in  brightness  and 
splendor  as  the  ages  rolled  along,  and  its  meridian  is  not  yet 
reached.  Changes,  "even  organic  changes,"  are  needed  in 
tiieology  as  in  all  other  <le|)arti)ient8  of  tliought ;  and  these 
shou'  -  welcomed,  not  dreaded  and  exorcised.  They  arc 
syni 


is  of  vigor  and  health. 


We  must  live  our  own  relig- 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WriTTnER    TENDING  t 


109 


iou8  life,  not  that  of  our  remote  nnccstora.  Heaven  is  as 
truly  doming  over  us  as  it  was  over  them.  The  ever-renewing 
spirit  of  Christianity  must  be  infused  into  the  activities  and 
thouglits  of  to-day  if  we  are  to  go  forward  on  the  path  of  prog- 
ress with  safety  and  energy. 

At  the  present  time  many  are  startled  and  alarmed  at  "  The 
New  Learning  "  which  Mas  of  late  been  poured  upon  us  by 
science,  philosophy,  hisioric  research,  and  criticism.  They 
dread  lest  the  foundations  of  their  faith  may  be  shaken  or 
overturned  ;  and  thcv  rejjard  the  inno\ators  as  foes  of  rdijjfion. 
Many  even  of  the  more  thoughtftd  spirits  are  also  rendered 
anxious  at  the  widening  divergence  now  discernible  between 
the  current  of  modern  thought  and  the  teachings  of  orthodox 
Christianity.     They  are  in  doubt  and  perplexity,  and  wait  for 


light :  — 


'•  Aoliilk'8  ponders  in  liis  tent, 

The  kin(jfs  of  modern  thou'^ht  are  dumb; 
Silent  tiiey  are,  thougli  not  content, 

And  wait  to  see  tne  future  come,  — 
Silent,  wliilc  years  engrave  the  brow, 
Silent,  the  best  are  silent  now." 


Others,  again,  who  might  be  regarded  as  religious  pessimists, 
take  a  gloomier  view  of  the  futiu'e,  and  contend  that  the  scien- 
tific teachings  and  the  activities  of  speculative  thought,  in  the 
present  day,  are  inevitably  hurrying  on  to  the  dark  gulf  of 
material  atheism.  It  is  not  that  they  dread  the  inevitable 
chanjres  and  revolutions  in  existing  ortranizations  and  modes  of 
thought  whicli  time  brings  with  it ;  but  to  their  sombre  mood 
it  seems  that  the  currents  of  modern  tbouifht  have  but  the  one 
ultimate  issue  I  have  named.  One  by  one  they  see  the  dearest 
objects  of  their  reverence  dethroned,  their  most  sacred  princi- 
ples undermined  or  rudely  called  in  cpiestion,  so  that  soon 
nothing  will  be  left  to  them  bevond  what  the  senses  can  realize. 
A  vapor,"  heavy,  hueless,  formless,  cold,"  seems  to  be  creeping 
up  from  the  distant  horizon,  and  soon,  as  they  anticipate,  the 
dark  pall  of  atheism  will  cover  all  and  blot  out  the  heavens 
where    once   the   stars  of  faith  and  immortal    hope  shone  re- 


H 


110 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WIIITUER    TENDING  t 


sploiulcnt.  From  such  unhappy  sph-its,  whose  confidencfc  in 
some  of  the  hcliefs  of  the  past  has  been  rudely  sliaken  by  tlie 
in-rolling  tide  of  modern  speculation,  we  hear  now  fref|uent 
despondent  wailings.  As  Matthew  Arnold  puts  it  in  the  lines 
entitled  "  Dover  Beach  :  "  — 

"  Tho  sea  of  faith 
Was  once,  t(K),  at  tlii"  fuil  and  round  earth's  ihore 
Liiy  like  the  fohls  of  a  hrij^ht  girdle  furl'd. 

But  now  I  only  hear 
Its  melancholy,  lonf,',  withdrawing?  roar, 

Ivotroatiiif?,  to  the  hreath 
Of  the  niiilit-wind,  down  the  vast  edges  drear 
And  naked  shingles  of  the  world." 


tlBii 


Honest  douUters  of  this  class,  whoso  doubts  spring  from  the 
very  sensitiveness  and  delicacy  of  their  mental  organization, 
shoidd  have  our  fullest  sympathy.  Their  unhappiness  arises 
from  the  loss  of  loved  and  familiar  truths,  while  they  have  not 
yet  conquered  for  themselves  the  calm  and  blcbdcdness  of  a  faith 
recovered  by  struggling  through  the  quagmires  of  doid)t  to  the 
firm  ground  beyond.  To  them  the  travail  of  the  present  age 
has  not  yet  yielded  its  rich  fruitage,  while  the  din  of  clashing 
systems  and  the  downfall  of  venerable  structurcs  stun  and 
alarm  them.  Their  very  aspirations  and  cries  of  anguish  give 
promise  of  the  renewed  faith  for  which  they  are  longing.  They 
will,  if  true  to  themselves,  learn  one  day  that  the  foundations 
of  spiritual  truths  are  not  shaken,  but  deepened  and  strength- 
ened, by  the  developments  of  modern  research. 

Those  who  dread  the  advances  of  science,  and  see  in  the 
modern  doctrine  of  evolution  an  atheistic  tendency,  should 
gather  courage  and  calnniess  from  reviewing  the  past  relations 
of  science  and  religion.  When  astronomy  iirst  presented  itself 
as  a  science,  and  the  ideas  of  men  regarding  this  earth  and  its 
inhabitants  were  completely  revolutionized  thereby,  an  outcry 
was  raised  against  the  new  discoveries  as  irreligious,  and  even 
atlieistic.  The  new  science  was  anathematized,  and  its  promoters 
denounced  as  the  enemies  of  the  human  race.  It  was  pro- 
claimed that  its  conclusions  were   contrary  to  Scripture,  and 


WHERE  ALE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TEXDIXOt 


111 


Buhversive  of  Christianity.  So,  too,  when  gcolo<;y  arose,  reveal- 
inj;  tlie  enormous  ajjo  of  the  earth  and  its  <;nulual  fortuatlon  hv 
a  proceos  of  natural  law,  and  when  the  Nebular  Theory  ex- 
tended such  spceulations  so  as  to  exphiin  the  slow  foruiation  of 
other  worlds  from  ditl'used  matter,  a  reli<;ious  panic  arose,  as  it 
was  8uppo8(Hl  sueii  views  ignored  or  denied  the  agency  of  a 
Creator  and  hanishcd  (rod  from  the  univeixe.  If  (iod  did  not 
make  tlw!  universi;  in  six  days,  and  every  department  of  it  in  an 
instant  and  hy  a  word,  the  suj)[)orters  of  the  old  theories  were 
unahh;  to  conceive  that  he  made  it  at  all.  ^^'e  all  know  that 
such  fears  proved  to  he  imfoun<led,  and  have  long  since  heen  ex- 
ploded. Theologians  discovered  that  the  new  sciences  harmo- 
nized with  Revelation  when  rightly  interpreted.  They  drew  hack 
the  chair  of  Canute  in  time,  feeling  that  the  tide  of  knowledge 
did  not  retire  at  their  l)idding.  The  foundations  of  the  faith 
were  found  to  l)e  as  firm  as  ever. 

In  a  similar  way,  in  our  own  day,  when  "  natural  selection  " 
has  heen  brought  forward  as  an  explanation  of  the  mode  in 
which  animal  and  vegetable  life  has  overspread  the  globe, 
another  religious  panic  has  resulted,  and  the  new  science  is 
denounced  as  atheistic.  The  doctrine  that  species,  instead  of 
being  iuunediate  and  distinct  creations,  are  the  result  of  gradu- 
ally accunmlating  modifications  of  structure,  inherited  by  suc- 
cessive generations,  through  vast  periods  of  time,  is  detiounced 
by  many  as  an  attempt  to  overturn  the  belief  iu  a  G(kI.  It  is 
alleged  that  Development  is  j)ut  forward  as  a  rival  to  the  Crea- 
tor, —  as  a  senseless  idol  which  we  are  to  fall  down  and  wor- 
ship,—  as  a  piece  of  blind,  self  acting  mechanism,  witiiout  any 
guiding  mind,  which  is  to  jupplaut  an  Infinite  All-perfect  First 
Cause.  Those  who  hold  such  views  are  imableto  conceive  that 
a  lion  or  an  elephant  was  created  by  God  at  all  unless  a  (pian- 
titv  of  inorganic  matter  were  at  first  taken,  and  bv  a  word 
transformed  into  an  animal,  in  an  instant  of  time;  and  when 
science  steps  in  and  shows  how,  under  a  process  of  natural  law, 
and  by  slow  and  lengthened  modifications  and  developments 
from  lower  forms,  the  various  speci**.*  of  animals  have  been 
called  into  existence,  they  are  shocked  aud  alarmed,  believing 


•  I 


■• 


'] 

1  f 

^ 

'u 

.  l1 

,(  ;  : 


112 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    W If  IT  HER    TENDIXOf 


thiit  tills  is  nn  attempt  to  explain  croation  without  God.  They 
forijet  that  lie  to  whom  "a  thoiisanil  voare  arc  as  one  (lav  " 
can  and  docs  work  slowly  through  countless  ages  as  truly,  as 
suddenly,  and  in  an  instant,  when  prodticing  His  grand  residts. 
Creation  hy  law  requires  a  divine  energy  as  truly  as  creation 
hy  fiat.  'Vhv.  mere  mode  of  its  operation  does  not  affect  a 
belief  in  its  reality.  The  operations  of  natural  law  are  truly 
the  direct  operations  of  God.  Nay  more  —  these  new  views 
of  the  creative  process  are  not  only  not  irreligious,  hut  impart 
n  d('C[)er,  grander  meaning  to  old  religious  truths,  and  fdl  them 
with  a  new  life  and  beauty.  When  we  learn  that  God  has  cre- 
ated the  world  of  life,  not  by  sudden  shocks,  or  detached  out- 
goings of  energy  at  uncertain  intervals,  but  by  the  o[)erations 
of  a  primal  law  which  has  extended  through  immeasurable 
roons  of  the  past,  and  governed  Jill,  do  we  not  obtain  nobler 
and  more  elevating  ideas  of  Ilim  who  "  has  given  a  law  which 
shall  not  be  broken  "?  Do  we  not  discern  that  the  world  with 
its  inhabitants  is  far  deeper  and  wider,  and  that  creation  has  a 
far  grander  sweep,  than  the  childish  and  narrow  notions  of  the 
past  would  lead  us  to  believe?  Do  we  not  obtain  enlarged 
conceptions  of  the  infinite  variety  of  God's  treasure-house,  and 
of  Ilis  workings,  which  arc  from  everlasting  to  everlasting? 

It  is  pleasing  to  note  that  already  the  alarm  in  the  religious 
world  regarding  the  scientific  doctrines  referred  to  has  greatly 
subsided.  Just  as  the  dread  once  evoked  by  Newton's  discov- 
ery of  the  law  of  gravitation,  as  likely  to  eliminate  God  from 
creation,  has  long  since  vanished,  so  the  alarm  regarding  the 
discovery  of  the  law  of  "  natural  selection  "  and  "  the  survival 
of  the  fittest "  is  gradually  disappearing.  The  most  enlight- 
ened theologians  now  look  upon  it  without  misgiving.  They 
know  that  evolution  is  far  from  being  a  completely  established 
theory,  though  its  main  positions  may  be  unassailable  ;  and 
that  it  will  probably  undergo  numerous  modifications  as  knowl- 
edge extends.  They  can  await  the  issue  without  any  anxiety, 
confident  that  the  truths  of  science  and  of  religion  Avill  ulti- 
matcly  harmonize,  and  that  a  more  extended  reading  of  "  the 
manuscripts  of  God  "  by  the  eye  of  science  will  not  throw  dis- 


fn 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDISOt 


113 


credit  on  what  is  true  in  rclijxious  doctrines.  Perhaps  the 
chief  danger  to  religion,  at  present,  is  eanscd  by  a  rchictance  to 
part  with  the  worn-out  and  the  perishahU',  —  tlic  dead  t'onns 
whieh,  though  once  beneficial,  have  ceased  to  be  so,  and  are  now 
serious  encumbrances  to  the  new  lite  which  is  stirring,  —  nn 
indisposition  to  give  heed  to  the  injunction,  "  Let  the  dead  bury 
their  dead  ;  "  "forgetting  those  things  which  are  behind,  and 
rcachint;  forth  to  those  thinjjs  which  are  before." 

This  tendency  to  cling  to  conceptions  and  formularies,  which 
arc  really  "survivals"  from  an  earlier  and  more  im{)erfect  age, 
is,  however,  declining.  The  love  of  truth  for  its  own  sake  is 
growing.  Tiie  dread  of  science  is  disapijcaring,  and  its  relig- 
ious significance,  as  unfoUling  the  way  in  which  Deity  works, 
is  felt  more  widely.  When  Darwin  was  laid  in  AVestminster 
Abbey,  in  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  a  great  nation,  some 
of  the  most  eminent  leaders  of  religious  thought  declared  from 
the  pulpit  that  his  theory  "is  not  in  hostility  to  the  fundamental 
truths  of  religion."  And  when  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  another  of 
the  great  lights  of  modern  science,  was  laid  in  the  same  Wal- 
halla,  the  largc-liearted  and  accomplished  divine,  Dean  Staidey, 
spoke  of  him  from  the  pulpit  of  the  Abbey  in  the  following 
eloquent  words  :  "  All  honor  to  the  peaceful  conqueror  who, 
by  ycjirs  of  unhasting,  unresting  research,  annexed  these  new  x 
provinces  of  thought  to  the  knowledge  of  man,  and,  therefore, 
to  the  glory  of  God.  All  honor  tothe  herald  and  archicologist 
of  our  race,  who  has  unrolled  in  all  its  length  and  breadth  the 
genealogy  of  the  antiquity  of  man,  and  the  antiquity  of  his 
habitation.  Not  the  limitation,  Init  the  amplification  of  the  idea 
of  God,  is  the  result  of  the  labors  of  such  a  student.  Not  the 
descent,  but  the  ascent  of  man  is  the  final  result  of  his  specula- 
tions. If,  as  he  used  to  say,  'we  have  in  our  bones  the  chill ' 
of  that  contracted  view  in  which  we  had  been  brought  up,  yet 
the  enlargement  whieh  he  eflfectcd  for  the  view  of  the  past  ought 
to  give  a  warmth,  a  fire  to  our  heart  of  hearts,  to  our  soul  of 
souls,  in  proportion  as  we  feel  that  we  are  not  the  creatures  of 
yesterday,  but  '  the  heirs  of  all  the  ages,'  —  even  the  ages  that 
cannot  be  numbered,  and  of  worlds  that  have  perished  in  the 


«  I 


114 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WltlTHER    TENDING  f 


in'ikin'f  of  us,  —  the  aiKrestors,  let  us  trust,  of  tliosc  who, 
(•GUI [tared  with  us,  shiiU  seem  to  hiive  uttiiined  to  '  a  new  heaven 
and  a  new  earth '  wherein  '  old  things  shall  have  passed  away 
and  all  things  shall  have  become  new,'  under  the  hreath  of  that 
Spirit  which  is  forever  brooding  over  the  face  of  the  troubled 
universe."  In  the  same  discourse  the  elocjuent  preacher  added  : 
"To  invest  the  pursuit  of  Truth  with  the  sanctity  of  a  relig- 
ious duty,  to  miike  Truth  and  Goodness  ujcet  together  in  one 
holy  fellow8hi[»,  is  th<!  high  reconciliation  of  Keligion  iuid  Sci- 
ence for  which  all  scientific  and  all  religious  men  slioidd  alike 
labor  and  pray."  "  The  trancpiil  triumph  of  Geology,  once 
thought  so  dangerous,  now  so  (juietly  acccj)tcd  by  the  Church, 
no  less  than  by  the  world,  is  one  more  proof  of  the  ground- 
lessness of  theological  panics  in  the  face  of  the  advances  of 
scientific  discovery." 

These  are  noble  and  instructive  utterances,  and,  coming  from 
such  a  (piartcr,  they  should  aid  in  (liti[)clling  that  dread  of 
scientific  truth  which  so  many  good  men  seem  to  feel  in  these 
days.  The  tendency  of  science  is  not  to  banish  Deity,  by  pro- 
claiming that  we  are  held  fast  in  a  system  of  materialistic 
fatalism,  but  to  make  us  "workers  together  with  Him"  by 
showing  us  how,  as  knowledge  advances,  we  can  conquer 
nature  by  understanding  and  obeying  its  laws,  and  thus  control 
largely  the  destiny  of  our  race.  "  No  man  imderstoo«l  more  fully 
the  drift  of  modern  science  than  Sir  John  Ilerschcll,  and  on  this 
point  he  said,  "  Instead  of  being  supinely  and  carelessly  carried 
down  the  stream  of  events,  we  now,  by  the  great  resources  put 
into  our  hands,  find  ourselves,  as  never  before,  capable  of 
buffeting  with  its  waves,  and,  perhaps,  of  riding  triumphantly 
over  them  ;  for  why  should  we  despair  that  the  science  which 
has  enabled  us  to  subdue  all  nature  to  our  purposes,  should 
(if  permitted  and  assisted  by  the  providence  of  God)  achieve 
the  far  more  difficult  conquest  of  enabling  the  collective  wisdom 
of  mankind  to  bear  down  the  obstacles  which  individual  short- 
sightedness, selfishness,  and  passion  oppose  to  all  impi'ove- 
ments  ?"  And  with  regard  to  the  future  of  science,  the  same  high 
authority  could  say,  reverentially,  yet  proudly,  "  The  students 


WHERE  ARE    WE  ASH    WHITHER    TENDING  t 


115 


11 


h' 


:8 


ot  science  arc  iw  messengers  from  heaven  to  eiirth,  to  innke 
such  stupendous  announcements  that  they  may  chiim  to  l)C 
listened  to  wlicn  they  repeat,  in  every  variety  of  urgent 
instance,  that  these  are  not  the  last  announcements  which  they 
siiail  have  to  communicate  ;  and  that  there  are  yet  behind,  to 
search  out  and  dechire,  not  only  secrets  of  nature,  which  shtill 
increase  the  wealth  and  power  of  men,  hut  truths,  which  shall  en- 
noble the  a<j;c  and  the  country  in  which  they  arc  divul<;cd,  and  by 
dilating  the  intellect,  react  on  the  moral  character  of  mankind." 
Such  weighty  words  from  the  \yin  of  one  of  the  profoundest 
thinkers  of  the  age,  who  spent  a  long  life  in  the  study  of  the 
Creator's  works,  should  have  a  calming,  reassuring  effect  on 
the  minds  of  those  who  are  inclined  to  look  askance  on  the 
students  of  science,  and  to  regard  its  advances  with  jealousy 
and  suspicion.  To  him  the  alleged  discord  between  the  teach- 
ings of  religion  and  science  liad  no  meaning.  If  we  but  keep 
our  minds  open  to  the  new  disclosures  of  true  science  on  the 
one  hand,  and  to  the  ever-l)rightening  apocalypse  of  true  relig- 
ion on  the  other,  we  shall  learn  that,  from  prcisent  apparent  dis- 
cord, a  loftier  harmony  is  ever  arising.  Our  part  is  to  show 
our  reverence  for  the  great  and  good  men  who  have  gone  before 
us,  not  by  slavish  subjection  to  them,  not  by  "  making  their 
creeds  our  jailers,"  or  their  ideas  the  boundaries  of  our  specula- 
tions, but  by  using  wisely  the  garnered  results  of  their  labors, 
and  making  them  the  foundation  on  which  to  build  what  is 
purer  and  better.  All  that  has  been  permitted  to  exist  in  the 
past  is  ours,  either  as  example  or  warning.  While  we  revere 
in  it  whatever  was  true  and  good,  we  are  not  to  fetter  ourselves 
with  its  fornmlaries,  or  blindly  worship  its  ideals.  The  scorn- 
ful destructive  spirit  is  to  be  deprecated  and  avoided  ;  the  pro- 
gressive spirit  is  to  be  revered  and  cherished  :  — 

*'  'Tis  as  t.isy  to  be  heroes  as  to  sit  the  idle  slaves 
Of  a  legendary  virtue  carved  upon  our  fatliers'  graves, 
Worshippers  of  light  ancestral  make  the  present  light  a  crime ;  — 
Was  the  'Mayflower'  launched  by  cowards,  steered  by  men  behind  their 

time? 
Turn  those  tracks  toward  Past  or  Future,  that  make  Plymouth  Rock  sub- 
lime? 


116 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TESDINO  f 


"New  occaiion*  toach  new  diitivn;  Time  roakoi  ancient  ^ooA  uncouth; 
Tlicy  must  upward  itill,  and  onward,  wlio  would  Iccop  alirenitt  of  Truth ; 
Lo,  before  us  gleam  her  camp-tires  I  we  ourHelves  niuiit  I'llxrims  be, 
Launch  our  'Mayflower,'  and  steer  boldly  through  the  dewperute  winter 

Bca, 
Nor  attempt  the  Future's  portal  with  the  Past's  blood-rusted  Icey." 

LowtU. 


nter 


APPENDICES 


i  ..■ 


i      .9 


l^i 


PI 


APPENDICES. 


APPENDIX     I. 


&''». 


K?^/ 


m^  N  proof  and  illustration  of  the  statement  that  the  most 
enli<i;htene(l   theologians   now  look   without   mis^ivins: 

'<M^  on  the  doctrine  of  evolution,  when  rightly  expounded,  I 
subjoin  a  few  extracts  from  well-known  writers :  — 

Bishop  Temple,  in  his  able  work  entitled  "  The  Relations 
Between  Religion  and  Science"  (Bara[)ton  Lecture,  1884),  at  page 
1G4  says :  "It  cannot  be  denied  that  Darwin's  investigations 
have  made  it  exceedingly  probable  that  the  vast  variety  of  plants 
and  animals  have  sprung  from  a  much  smaller  number  of  original 
forms. 

"  In  the  first  place,  the  unity  of  plan,  which  can  be  found  pervad- 
ing any  g -cat  class  of  animals  or  plants,  seems  to  point  to  unity  of 
ancestry.  Why,  for  instance,  should  the  vertebrate  animals  be 
formed  on  a  common  plan,  the  parts  of  the  framework  being 
varied  from  species  to  species,  but  tlie  framework,  as  a  whole, 
always  exhibiting  the  same  fundamental  type?  If  they  all 
descended  from  a  common  ancestor,  and  the  variations  were 
introduced  in  the  course  of  that  descent,  this  remarkable  fact  is 
at  once  accounted  for.  But,  in  the  second  place,  observation 
shows  that  slight  variations  are  perpetually  being  introduced  with 
every  successive  generation,  and  many  of  these  variations  are 
transmitted  to  the  generations  that  foi'.ow.  In  the  course  of 
time,  therefore,  from  any  one  parent  stock  would  descend  a  very 
large  variety  of  kinds.  But  if,  in  the  third  place,  it  be  asked  why 
this  variety  does  not  range  by  imperceptible  degrees  from  extreme 
forms  in  one  direction  to  extreme  forms  in  the  other,  the  answer 
is  to  be  found  in  the  enormous  prodigality  and  the  equally  enor- 
mous waste  of  life  and  living  creatures.  Plants  and  animals  pro- 
duce far  more  descendants  than  ever  come  even  to  such  maturity 
as  to  reproduce  their  kind.  And  this  is  particularly  the  case  with 
the  lower  forms  of  life.     Eggs,  and  seeds,  and  germs  are  destroyed 


i 


120 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDING  T 


m 


by  millions;  and  so,  in  a  loss,  but  still  enormous  proportion,  are 
the  young  that  come  from  those  that  hnve  not  been  tlcstioyed. 
There  is  no  waste  like  the  waste  of  life  that  is  to  be  seen  in 
nature.  Living  creatures  are  destroyed  by  lack  of  fit  nourishment, 
by  lack  of  means  of  reproduction,  by  accidents,  by  enemies.  The 
inevitable  operation  of  this  waste,  as  Darwin's  investigation 
showed,  has  been  to  destroy  all  those  varieties  which  were  not 
well  fitted  to  their  surroundings,  and  to  keep  those  that  were. 
One  species  of  animal  has  been  preserved  by  length  of  neck,  which 
enabled  it  to  reach  high-growing  fruits  and  leaves ;  another  by  a 
thicker  skin,  which  made  it  dilllcult  for  enemies  to  devour;  another 
by  a  color,  which  made  it  easier  to  hide.  One  plant  has  been  pre- 
served by  a  bright  flower,  whicli  attracted  insects  to  carry  its 
pollen  to  other  flowers  of  its  kind  ;  another  by  a  sweet  fruit,  which 
attracted  birds  to  scatter  its  seed.  Meanwhile,  other  animals  and 
plants  that  had  not  tliese  advantages  periahed  from  the  lack  of 
them.  The  result  would  be  to  maintain,  antl  perpetually,  though 
with  exceeding  slowness,  more  and  more  to  adapt  to  the  conditions 
of  their  lift  those  species  whose  peculiarities  gave  them  some  ad- 
vantage in  the  great  struggle  for  existence. 

"  Here,  again,  we  have  the  working  of  known  laws  of  life,  capa- 
ble of  accounting  for  what  we  see.  And  the  high  probability 
cannot  be  denied,  that  by  evolution  of  this  kind  the  present  races 
of  living  creatures  have  been  formed.  And  to  these  arguments 
the  strongest  corroboration  is  given  by  the  frequent  occurrence, 
both  in  plants  and  animals,  of  useless  parts,  which  still  remain  as 
indications  of  organs  that  once  were  useful  and  have  long  become 
useless.  Animals  that  now  live  permanently  in  the  dark  have 
abortive  eyes  which  cannot  see,  but  indicate  an  ancestor  with 
eyes  that  could  see.  Animals  that  never  walk  have  abortive  legs 
hidden  under  thefr  skin,  useless  now,  but  indicating  what  was  use- 
ful once.  And  so  taking  it,  we  find  that  the  mass  of  evidence  in 
favor  of  the  evolution  of  plants  and  animals  is  enormously  great, 
and  increasing  daily. 


H 


"  Now,  when  we  compare  the  account  of  the  creation  and  of  man 
given  by  the  doctrine  of  evolution  with  that  given  in  the  Bible, 
we  see  at  once  that  the  two  are  in  different  regions.  The  purpose 
of  giving  the  accounts  is  different ;  the  spirit  and  character  of  the 
accounts  is  different ;  the  details  are  altogether  different.     The 


^ 


APPENDIX. 


121 


comparison   must  take  note  of  the  difference  of  spirit  anil  aim 
before  it  can  proceed  at  all. 

"  It  is,  then,  quite  certain,  and  even  tliose  who  contend  for  the 
literal  interpretation  of  tills  part  of  the  Bible  will  generally  admit, 
that  the  purpose  of  the  revelation  is  not  to  teach  science  at  all. 
It  is  to  teach  great  spiritual  and  moral  lessons,  and  it  taiies  the 
facts  of  nature  as  they  appear  to  ordinary  people.  Wlien  the 
creation  of  man  is  mentioned,  there  is  clearly  no  intention  to  say 
by  what  i)rocesses  tins  creation  was  effected,  or  how  much  time  it 
took  to  work  out  those  processes,  Tlie  narrative  is  not  touched  by 
the  question  :  "Was  this  a  single  act  done  in  a  moment,  or  a  i)rocess 
lasting  tlirough  millions  of  years?  The  writer  of  the  Book  of 
Genesis  sees  the  earth  peopled,  as  we  may  say,  by  many  varieties 
of  plants  and  animals.  He  asserts  tliat  God  made  tliem  all,  and 
made  them  reseml>le  eacii  other  and  differ  from  each  otiier.  lie 
knows  nothing,  and  says  nothing,  of  the  means  used  to  produce 
their  resemblances  or  their  differences.  He  takes  them  as  he  sees 
them,  and  spealvs  of  their  creation  as  God's  work.  Had  he  been 
commissioned  to  teaeli  his  people  the  science  of  the  matter,  he 
would  liave  had  to  put  a  most  serious  obstacle  in  the  way  of  their 
faith.  They  would  have  found  it  almost  impossible  to  believe  in 
a  process  of  creation  so  utterly  unlike  all  their  own  experience. 
And  it  would  have  been  quite  useless  to  them,  besides,  since  their 
science  was  not  in  sucii  a  condition  as  to  enable  them  to  coordinate 
this  doctrine  with  any  other.  As  science,  it  would  have  been  dead  ; 
and  as  spiritual  truth,  it  would  have  been  a  hindrance. 


%:■ 


"  In  conclusion,  we  cannot  find  that  science,  in  teaching  evolu- 
tion, has  yet  asserted  any  tiling  that  is  inconsistent  with  Revela- 
tion, unless  we  assume  that  Revelation  was  intended  not  to  teach 
spiritual  truth  only,  but  physical  truth  also.  Here,  as  in  similar 
cases,  we  find  that  the  writer  of  the  Book  of  Genesis,  like  all  the 
other  writers  in  the  Bible,  took  nature  as  he  saw  it,  and  expressed 
his  teaching  in  language  corresponding  to  what  he  saw.  And  the 
doctrine  of  evolution,  in  so  far  as  it  lias  been  shown  to  be  true, 
does  but  fill  out  in  detail  the  declaration  tiiat  we  are  '  fearfully 
and  wonderfully  made  ;  marvellous  are  Thy  works,  and  tliat  my 
soul  knoweth  right  well.'  There  is  nothing  in  all  that  science  has 
yet  taught,  or  is  on  the  way  to  teach,  which  conflicts  with  tlie 
doctrine  that  we  are  made  in   tlie  Divine  Image,  rulers  of  the 


122 


WB.ERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    T ENDING f 


creation  around  us  by  a  divine  superiority,  the  recipients  of  a 
revelation  from  a  Fatlier  in  heaven,  and  responsible  to  judgment 
by  His  Uiw.  We  know  not  how  tlie  first  human  soul  was  made, 
just  as  we  know  not  how  an}'  human  soul  has  been  made  since ; 
but  we  know  that  we  are  in  a  sense  in  wliich  no  other  creature 
living  with  us  arc,  —  the  children  of  His  special  care." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  McCosh,  President  of  Princeton  University,  dis- 
tinguislicd  botli  as  a  theologian  and  a  scientist,  is  well  known  as  an 
advocate  of  evolution,  witliin  certain  limitations.  In  a  recent 
production  of  his  pen  he  said,  "  There  is  certainly  evolution,  that 
is,  one  thing  coming  out  of  another,  in  our  world,  especially  in  the 
operations  of  physical  nature.  I  know  no  scientific  naturalist 
under  thirty  years  of  age,  in  any  country  of  the  world,  who  does 
not  believe  that  there  is  such  a  process.  It  is  highly  inex[)cdient 
in  religious  people  to  set  themselves  against  it ;  they  will  thereby 
only  injure  among  young  men  the  cause  which  they  moan  to 
benefit. 


"  From  the  time  of  my  entrance  in  my  otlice  I  told  the  young 
men  committed  to  my  care  that  there  is  evolution  everywhere  in 
nature,  and  that  tiiore  is  nothing  in  that  evolution,  properly 
explained  and  duly  limited,  inconsistent  with  Revelation. 


*'  In  circumstances  at  all  favorable  animated  beings  rise  to 
higher  and  higher  states.  True,  there  are  also  deteriorations  and 
degradations,  in  unfavorable  circumstances,  and  tribes  of  plants  and 
animals  perish.  While  all  this  happens  in  '  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence,' it  leads  to  '  the  survival  of  the  fittest,'  which  is  a  beneficent 
law,  as  it  secures  that  the  strong  prevail.  In  all  this  there  is 
nothing  atheistic,  nothing  irreligious  in  an}'  way.  It  leaves  every 
argument  for  the  divine  existence  and  the  divine  benevolence 
where  it  was  before,  only  adding  new  examples  of  order  and 
design.  I  perceive  traces  of  wisdom  and  beneficence  in  this  mode 
of  procedure.  It  is  important  to  remark  that  in  tliis  way  God 
connects  the  past  with  the  present  and  the  future  in  one  grand 
system,  rellecting  the  unity  of  God's  being  and  character.  As  the 
law  of  gravitation  binds  the  whole  of  contemporaneous  nature  in 
one  grand  sphere,  so  the  law  of  development  makes  all  successive 
nature  flow  in  one  grand  stream,  bearing  the  riches  of  all  past 
ages  into  the  future,  possibly  to  the  end  of  time. 


APPENDIX. 


123 


"  The  conclusion  to  which  I  have  come  is,  that  the  question  of 
the  absolute  fixity  of  all  species,  and  of  tlie  evolution  of  new 
species,  is  a  question  of  science,  ami  not  of  religion.  Tlie  scientific 
question  in  dispute  is  one  to  be  determined  by  science  and  scien- 
tific men ;  and  religious  men  who  are  not  trained  naturalists 
should  leave  it  to  be  settled  by  tliera.  The  great  body  of  Cliris- 
tians  may  reasonably  say,  '  Let  savants  dispute  as  they  may  as  to 
how  plants  and  animals  are  produced,  b}'  means  or  without  means, 
I  am  convinced  that,  however  they  are  produced,  it  is  by  the 
miglity  power  of  God.' " 

The  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Bcecher  has  declared  that  if  the  general 
theory  of  evolution  be  admitted,  "  it  would  not  work  towards 
atheism.  The  evidence  of  the  existence  of  a  personal  God,  wise 
and  all-controlling,  would  stand  as  it  always  did ;  nor  would  it 
destroy  the  evidence  for  divine  design  in  the  creation  of  the 
world.  Tu  my  judgment  evolution  does  not  invalidate  the  fact  or 
philosophy  of  miracles,  nor  set  aside  the  evidence  of  a  particular 
Providence,  nor  invalidate  the  grounds  of  prayer.  It  does  not 
tend  to  destroy  churches,  nor  the  worship  and  ordinances  of  the 
Church." 

The  distinguished  Professor  Alexander  Winchell,  LL.D.,  of 
Michigan  University,  expressed  his  views  as  follows:  "The  truth 
of  the  Bible  and  the  reality  of  evolution  in  the  worhl  are  both 
abundantly  sustained  by  evidence.  The  Bible  is  sustained  by 
the  intuitions,  the  understanding,  the  experience,  and  the  his- 
tory of  humanity.  Evolution,  the  other  truth,  is  sustained  by 
the  almost  unanimous  suffrages  of  the  scientific  world  ;  and  these 
are  based  on  a  diversified  array  of  evidences,  in  the  light  of 
which  all  incredulity  shrinks  away ;  while,  on  the  contrary,  the 
surviving  doubters  respecting  evolution  do  not,  in  any  case, 
measure  the  weight  of  the  general  mass  of  evidence,  nor  enter 
upon  any  earnest  and  scientific  invalidation  of  any  class  of  evi- 
dence. Very  probably,  therefore,  evolution  is  a  truth.  If  so, 
it  is  a  truth  as  divine  as  the  utterance  of  Holy  Writ.  It  is  a 
revelation  of  the  Divine  Mind  ;  and  the  same  Perfect  Being  has 
made  no  conflicting  x'cvelations  of  himself.  The  notion  of  instan- 
taneous creation  is  crude  ;  it  is  suggested  by  a  sira[)le,  untutored, 
unexpanded  stage  of  intellectual  life.  It  is  the  short  cut  of 
an  understanding  which  has  not  enlarged  itself  to  take  in  the 
broad  relations  of  things.  It  may,  indeed,  be  the  sum  and 
gist  of  the  whole  matter  of  creation  ;  but  the  conception  is  suited 


I 


124 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WIIITUER   TENDING  t 


W  ! 


only  to  a  rode  stage  of  intelligence  ;  and  it  can  be  perpetuated  in 
an  fige  which  has  learned  largely  of  God's  method  of  activity 
only  through  the  influence  of  a  revered  tradition.  The  belief  in 
instantaneous  creation  ignores,  moreover,  the  fact  that  the  Bible 
itself  teaches  that  time  is  not  a  factor  in  God's  activity.  With 
Him  '  A  thousand  years  are  as  one  day.'  What  he  created  in  a 
cycle  of  years  is,  in  all  its  signiGcance,  an  instantaneous  crea- 
tion." 

"  That  the  divine  method  in  the  world  is  an  evolution  seems  to 
be  imi)lied  in  Ilcjly  Writ.  That  it  is  an  evolution  is  abundantly 
shown  by  observation,  and  almost  unanimously  affirmed  by  the 
best  judgment  of  the  students  of  God's  method  in  the  world. 
Tlie  conclusion  that  evolution  represents  the  truth  —  both  re- 
vealed and  (verbally)  uurevealed  —  and  is  carried  forward  by 
adaptations  of  the  ordinary  processes  of  nature  —  Darwinian  so 
far  as  adequate  —  is  a  probability  of  towering  magnitude.  It 
follows  that  he  who  hazards  the  credibility  of  Scripture  on  the 
untruth  of  evolution  —  even  Darwinian  evolution  —  assumes  a 
daring  responsibility." 

It  would  be  eas}',  did  space  permit,  to  multiply  such  extracts  as 
the  foregoing  from  the  writings  of  eminent  modern  divines.  As 
to  men  of  science,  both  in  Europe  and  America,  it  would  be  dif- 
ficult now  to  find  among  them  half-a-dozen  distinguished  names 
who  have  not  given  in  their  adhesion  to  the  doctrine  of  evolution, 
in  some  form  or  other,  tliough  all  are  not  followers  of  Darwin. 
The  scientific  world  has  gone  after  evolution. 

Like  the  foremost  theologians,  the  most  eminent  scientists 
have  no  dread  of  the  atheistic  tendency  of  evolution.  Professor 
Dana,  the  distinguished  American  geologist,  says:  "The  idea  of 
system  in  all  structure  and  of  progress  through  the  ages,  accord- 
ing to  a  scheme  that  may  be  compared  to  the  opening  of  a  flower 
or  the  development  of  a  germ,  instead  of  being  atheistic,  is  the 
only  view  of  the  history  of  life  that  is  consistent  with  its  divine 
origin.  Were  there  no  such  order  of  succession, -no  such  unity 
of  law  and  structure,  this  would  be  complete  demonstration  that  a 
Being  of  inlinite  wisdom  had  not  ordered  or  controlled  events." 


APPENDIX. 


125 


APPENDIX    II. 


PROGRESS,  AND  "THE  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST." 

^HE  following  extracts  from  "Sully's  Pessimism"  are 
worthy  of  attention  as  showing  the  limitations  of  "nat- 
ural selection"  in  the  more  advanced  stages  of  human 
progress.:  "If  v.e  turn  lo  later  stages  (-f  progress  t.)  the 
onward  movement  of  civilized  communities,  we  find  that 
the  action  of  natural  selection  is  greatly  checked  by  the  develop- 
ment of  certain  mental  impulses.  Thus  the  struggle  between 
individuals  of  the  same  community  is  limited  and  counteracted  by 
the  growth  of  benevolence  and  sympathy.  All  aid  to  others 
clearly  limits  the  action  of  rivalry,  and  so  the  area  of  natural 
selection  ;  and  all  charitable  relief,  by  assisting  those  who  would 
otherwise  succumb  in  the  struggle,  tends  directly  to  counteract  the 
action  of  natural  selection.  It  may  be  true,  as  Darwin  nsserts, 
that  sympathy  was  first  developed  because  of  its  utility  to  the 
community  ;  but  none  the  loss  docs  it  tend  to  checlv  the  operation 
of  natural  selection  as  lietwoen  individuals.  Not  only  so,  but  the 
latest  advances  of  civilized  comumnitics  have  clearly  developed 
impulses  wliich  limit  the  action  of  natural  selection  in  n-hUiou  to 
dilTerent  societies.  As  Darwin  himself  says,  '  With  highly  civil- 
ized nations  continued  progress  depends  in  a  subordinate  degree 
on  natural  selection,'  for  such  nations  do  not  8U|)plant  and  exter- 
minate one  another  as  do  savage  tribes.'  Tluit  is  to  say,  after  a 
certain  stage  of  moral  and  intellectual  develo[)ment  is  reached, 
impulses  manifest  themselves,  wliich  stay  the  action  of  struggle, 
not  only  between  individuals,  but  also  between  aggregates  or  com- 
munities. The  extension  of  industrial  operations,  and  the  rise  of 
international  commerce,  the  expansion  of  the  sentiments  of  duty 
and  of  benevolence  beyond  the  limits  of  country  and  race,  these 
serve  to  bind  civilized  nations  together  in  relations  of  amity.  As 
a  matter  of  history  few  will  deny  that  the  recent  progress  of  our 
own  country  in  all  that  is  valuable  and  good  is  due  in  no  small 
measure  to  the  elevation  of  the  moral  forces  of  public  oi)inion,  to 
a  prime  agent  of  national  life,  and  to  tlie  constant  imi»vovement 
of  these  forces.     Such  a  well-formed  public  opinion  might  help  to 


%.\ 


126 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WniTHER    TENDING  t 


■■■It 

m 


secure  the  improved  well-being  of  future  generations  by  seeking 
to  limit  popuhition,  and  so  to  remove  the  harsher  aH|)ects  of  com- 
petition. Possibly  it  might  be  led  to  devise  a  new  industrial  sys- 
tem in  wliich  competition,  and  so  struggle  for  the  means  of 
existence,  would  be,  to  a  large  extent,  eliminated.  By  forbidding 
improvident  marriages,  by  rewarding  all  kinds  of  excellence,  such 
a  public  opinion  might  secure  in  a  painless  manner  the  benefits 
which  natural  selection  ultimately  brings. 

*'I  have  allowed  tliat  the  past  stages  of  human  progress  may 
have  been  attended  with  more  evil  than  good.  At  the  same  time 
it  has  been  pointed  out  that  it?  later  stages  appear  to  show  a  clear 
gain  for  mankind.  ]f,  then,  it  could  be  made  out  as  a  probability 
that  the  future  duration  of  our  species  will  vastly  exceed  the  past, 
we  should  have  some  ground  for  conjecturing  that  progress,  on  the 
whole,  is  a  large  and  immeasurable  benefit."  "  The  absolute  value 
of  the  future  is  a  matter  of  supreme  moment  for  our  practical 
instincts.  The  lives  that  have  to  be  lived  are  still  a  realitv,  and 
even  to  us  of  the  passing  hour  they  seem  from  afar  to  seiul  faint 
cries  for  apostolic  help.  It  is  enougii,  then,  if,  when  Ave  peer  into 
the  darkness  of  the  world  to  be,  we  can  faintly  descry  the  form 
of  a  good  which  triumphs  over  evil,  and  triumphs  more  and 
more." 


APPENDIX. 


127 


AJ^PENDIX     III. 

PESSIMISM. 

^^N  popular  hingiiage,  pessimism  may  be  defined  as  ti 
tendency  to  take  gloomy  and  unfavorable  views  of 
life,  —  to  dwell  on  its  harsher  and  darker  aspects,  and  to 
undervalue  its  joys  and  buoyant  hopes  by  showing  that 
these  are  mingled  with  irremediable  ills  and  sorrows  which 
more  or  less  reduce  the  worth  of  existence  and  mar  its  blessings, 
Pesyimism  assumes  a  variety  of  forms,  and  has  existed  in  all  agi-s, 
under  various  aspects,  from  the  mild  cynicism  which  regards  life 
as  an  amusing  coniedy,  to  the  fiercest  and  bitterest  presentations 
of  its  sorrows  and  woes,  and  the  most  frantic  condemnation  of  the 
conditions  of  human  existence.  It  is  to  be  found  pervading  all 
literature  as  the  antagonist  of  optimism  which  indulges  in  buoyant 
and  hopeful  views  of  life  and  passes  lightly  over  its  miseries, 
affirming  that  the  world  is  as  good  as  it  is  possilile  for  it  to  be. 
Pessimism  may  be  either  of  the  instinctive,  enjotional  type,  of 
which  numerous  examples  are  found  in  the  (ircek  dramatists,  and 
also  in  the  poetry  of  Shelley,  IJyron,  Heine,  Leopardi,  and  others  ; 
or  it  may  assume  the  speculative  and  phil()soi)hic  form,  as  in  the 
writings  of  Schopenhauer,  Ilartmann,  and  others,  in  Germany, 
and  develop  into  a  regular  system.  Hrahminism  and  Buddhism  are 
deeply  pervaded  with  the  pessimistic  spirit;  and  in  modern  times 
it  seems  to  have  experienced  a  revival.  Whatev(?r  may  be  the 
cause,  poetic  and  philosophic  j)essinusm  is  in  these  days  widely 
prevalent,  though  it  can  be  nothing  more  than  a  passing  phase  of 
thought.  Germany  is  rife  with  it,  and  Russia  is  deeply  infected 
with  its  spirit.  In  both  countries  pessimism  attempts  to  graft 
itself  on  modern  science,  and  to  work  out  a  mechanical  theory  of 
the  universe  in  which  we  see  only  tiie  play  of  blind  forces.  The 
following  posthumous  fragment  of  Ivan  TurgenietT,  the  popular 
Russian  romance  writer,  will  illustrate}  the  tendency  referreil  to :  — 


"  NATURE. 

"  I  dreamed  that  I  stepped  into  a  vast  subterranean,  highly- 
arched  hall.     A  subterranean,  vast  light  illuminated  it.     In  the 


128 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDIXG  T 


i\ 


ii 

•H. 

u 


VM 

3 


middle  of  this  hall  was  seated  the  majestic  figure  of  a  wom.in, 
clothed  ill  a  green  robe  that  fell  in  many  folds  aronnd  her.  Her 
head  restiid  npon  her  hand  ;  slie  seemed  to  be  sunk  in  deep  medi- 
tation. Instantly  I  comprehended  that  this  woman  must  be  — 
Nature  herself,  and  a  sudden  feeling  of  respectful  terror  stole  into 
my  awed  soul. 

"  I  approached  the  woman,  and  saluting  her  with  reverence, 
I  cried,  'O  Mother  of  us  all!  On  what  dost  thou  meditate? 
Thinkest  thou  perchance  of  the  future  fate  of  humanity,  or  of  the 
path  along  which  mankind  nmst  jourm-y  in  order  to  attain  the 
greatest  possible  perfection,  tiie  highest  happiness?' 

"  The  woman  slowly  turned  her  dark,  threatening  eyes  upon  me. 
Her  lips  moved,  and  in  atrenndous,  metallic  voice,  she  replied  :  "I 
was  pondering  how  to  bestow  greater  stn-nglh  uikju  the  muscles  of 
the  flea's  legs,  so  that  it  may  the  more  easily  escai)o  from  its 
enemies.  The  balance  between  attack  and  flight  iS  deranged  —  it 
must  be  readjusted.' 

"'What,'  1  stammered,  'is  that  thy  only  meditation?  Are 
not  we  —  mankind  —  thy  best-beloved  and  most  precious  chil- 
dren?' 

"  The  woman  slightly  bent  her  brow,  and  replied,  '  All  living 
creatures  are  my  children  ;  I  cherish  all  ecpially,  atid  annihilate  all 
without  distinction.' 

"  '  But  Virtue,  Reason,  and  Justice,'  I  faltered. 

"  '  These  are  human  words,'  replied  the  l)razeii  voice,  '  I  know 
neither  good  nor  evil.  Reason,  to  me,  is  no  law  ;  and  what  is 
Justice?  I  gave  thee  life,  I  take  it  fiom  thee  and  give  it  unto 
others  — worms  or  men  —  all  are  the  same  to  me.  And  thou  must 
maintain  thyself  meanwhile,  and  leave  me  in  peace.' 

''  I  would  have  replied,  but  the  earth  quaked  and  trembled,  and 
I  awoke." 


How  much  nobler  and  more  morally  beautiful  than  this  grim, 
repulsive  pessimism  is  that  invincible  faith  in  final  good,  in  spite 
of  all  appearances  to  the  contrary,  which  Tennyson  has  expressed 
in  poetic  form  :  — 


i 


"  Oh  yet  we  trust  that  somehow  good 
Will  be  the  tinal  t'oal  of  ill, 
To  pan^s  of  nsiture,  sins  of  will, 
Defects  of  doubt  and  taints  of  blood; 


APPEND  rX. 

"  That  nothing  walks  with  (linilosg  feet, 
That  not  one  life  shall  be  destroyed, 
Or  east  as  rubbish  to  tiie  void, 
When  God  shall  make  the  pile  completo. 

*'  That  not  a  worm  is  cloven  in  vain; 
That  not  a  moth  with  vain  desire 
Is  shrivelled  in  a  fruitless  fire, 
Or  but  subserves  another's  piin. 

"  Behold  1  we  know  not  anything; 
1  can  but  trust  that  (,'ood  will  fall 
At  last  —far  off— at  last  to  ail, 
And  every  winter  ehanjje  to  spring." 


129 


180 


WHERE  AUK    WE  AND    WHIT  HE  It    TKNDINOf 


.    APPENDIX    IV. 


I! 
In' 


M 


f\ 


\\ 


\ . 


THE   POET   LAUREATE'S   NEW   POEM. 

ONNYSON   is   oTiipliJiticiilly   the    poot  of   tlie   ninotci'iitli 
(HMitury.     Ill  noblest   poi'tic   forms  lu>  luis  ^ivcn  cxpics- 


^  Hion  to  tho  doubts  iind  iispiriitioiis,  the  qiU'Htioiiini;s  jiiul 
loii<j;hi<j;s,  of  this  restless,  feverisii  nge.  He  has  depicted, 
with  the  hand  of  an  artist,  in  nniiiy  of  liis  poems,  tlio 
darinji  spirit  of  incpiiry  wiiicli  now  aifitates  men's  liearts  and  leails 
tliein  to  reconsider  old  l»eliefs  ;  and  he  has  also  shown  his  profound 
sympathy  with  that  reverent  faith  which,  apart  from  all  forms, 
and  in  spite  of  all  dililculties,  cliiif^s  to  the  grand  essentials  of 
ina'i's  moral  being,  represented  by  the  words,  flod,  I)«ty,  Im- 
tnortality.  Familiar  as  he  is  with  tlie  workings  and  results  of 
science,  and  penetrated  deeply  with  the  new  views  of  the  universe 
and  man  to  whicli  these  have  given  birth,  he  has  done  nuich  to 
liarmonizc  the  old  and  lunv  teachings,  and  to  lead  U8  gently 
through  the  uneasy  transition  period  in  which  we  have  been  born 
towards  tlu-  clearer  day  wliich  is  dawning. 

Ttninyson  is  very  far  from  being  a  pessimist.  lie  preaches  faith, 
hope,  courage,  and  never  gives  way  to  moral  despair.  And  yet 
no  poet  is  more  alive  to  the  moral  disonlers  that  abound ;  the 
hyi>oerisies,  falsehoods,  and  fr.ul  wrongs  wliich  deform  modern 
society;  tlu'  strange  commingling  of  the  nobU'  tmd  ignoble,  the 
beautifid  and  iiorrible,  of  happiness  and  misery,  which  mark  our 
mysterious  existence. 

In  his  new  poem,  entitled  "  Vastness,"  —  which  shows  that  his 
genius  has  lost  none  of  its  force  with  advancing  years,  —  he  has 
given  us,  in  a  few  brief  lines,  a  marvellously  powerful  picture  of 
t,his  moral  chaos  —  this  jumble  of  the  generous  and  the  base,  of 
purity  and  wickedness,  of  wisdom  and  folly,  of  greatness  and 
littleness,  which  human  life  presents ;  but  along  with  this  he 
presents  tlie  immortid  Iu)|)e  of  a  s|)iritual  secpiel  which,  as  he  be- 
lieves, will  ex|>lain  and  rectify  the  moral  disorder.  As  this  poem 
has  not  yet  become  familiar,  and  as  it  has  some  bearing  ou  the 
subject  dealt  with  in  these  |)ages,  it  may  be  cited  here  ; — 


AVVENDIX, 


181 


"  VASTNESS. 

"  Many  ii  lu'arth  upon  our  dark  Rlobo  hIkIis  iiftiT  many  n  vaninhM  fiico; 
Muny  a  pliinot  by  many  a  sun  may  roll  with  tliu  iliiitt  uf  a  vanisird  race. 

"  Ravin);  poiitics,  never  at  roHt,  —  a»  tliiH  poor  oarth'M  palo  hintory  runn,  — 
Wiiat  is  it  all  but  a  trouble  uf  nntM  in  the  kI('<ii»  <>f  n  million  million  of 
8un8? 

"  Lic8  upon  this  Hide,  lies  upon  that  side,  truthlcfls  violence  mourn'd  by  tho 
Wise, 
Thousandt)  of  voices  drowning  his  own  in  a  popular  torrent  of  licH  upon  lli-i; 

"  Stately  purposes,  valor  in  battle,  glorious  annals  of  army  and  fleet, 

Death  for  the  rif{ht  cause,  death  for  the  wrong  cause,  trumpets  of  victory, 
groans  of  defeat; 

•'  Innocence  seethed  in  her  mother's  milk,  and  Pharity  seftin^j  the  martyr 
aflame ; 
Thraldom  who  walks  with  the  banner  of  Freedom,  and  recks  not  to  ruin 
a  realm  in  her  name ; 

"  Faith  at  her  zenith,  or  all  but  lost  in  the  gloon)  of  doubts  that  darken  tho 
schools ; 
Craft  with  a  bimcli  of  all-heal  in  her  hand,  follow'd   up  by  her  vassal 
legion  of  fools ; 

"  Pain  that  has  crawl'd  from  the  corpse  of  Pleasure,  a  worm  which  writhes 
all  day  and  at  night 
Stirs  up  again  in  tho  heart  of  the  sleeper,  and  stings  him  back  to  the  curse 
of  the  light; 

"Wealth  with  his  wines  and  his  wedded  harlots;  Flattery  gilding  the  rift 
of  a  throne ; 
Opulent  Avarice,  lean  as  Poverty;  honest  Poverty,  bare  to  the  bone; 

"  Love  for  the  maiden  crown'd  with  marriage,  no  regrets  for  aught  that  has 
been, 
Household   happiness,   gracious   children,  debtless    competence,    golden 
mean ; 


•'  National  hatreds  of  whole  generations,  and  pigmy  spites  of  the  village 
spire ; 
Vows  that  will  last  to  the  last  death-ruckle,  and  vows  that  are  snapt  in  a 
moment  of  fire ; 


132 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER   TENDING  t 


**  He  that  has  lived  for  the  lust  of  the  minute,  and  died  in  the  doing  it, 
flesli  without  mind; 
He  that  lias  nail'd  all  flosh  to  the  Cross,  till  Self  died  out  in  the  love  of 
his  kind ; 

•'  Spring  and  Summer  and  Autumn  and  Winter,  and  all  these  old  revolu- 
tions of  earth ; 
All  new-old  revolutions  of  Empire  —  change  of  the  tide  —  what  is  all  of 
it  worth? 

"  Wliat  the  philosopliies,    .11  the  sciences,  poesy,  varying  voices  of  prayer? 
All  that  is  noblest,  all  that  is  basest,  all  that  is  filthy  witli  all  that  is  fair? 

"  What  is  it  all,  if  we  all  of  us  end  but  in  being  our  own  corpse-coffins  at 
last, 
Swallow'd  in  Vastness,  lost  in  Silence,  drown'd  in  the  deeps  of  a  mean- 
ingless Past? 

*'  What  but  a  murmur  of  gnats  in  the  gloom,  or  a  moment's  anger  of  bees 
in  their  hive  ? 

Peace,  let  it  be !  for  I  loved  liim,  and  love  him  forever ;  the  dead  are  not 
dead,  but  alive." 


In  this  fine  poem,  which  has  in  it  the  ring  of  the  "  Preacher's 
Vanity  of  Vanities,  all  is  Vanity,"  the  anthor  depicts  the  empti- 
ness of  human  life  and  human  history,  all  whose  moral  troubles 
and  selfish  struggles  are  but  the  confusions  of  an  ant-hill,  "  in  the 
gleam  of  a  million  million  of  suns."  What  are  all  these  petty 
strivings  in  the  presence  of  creation's  vastness,  of  the  inconceiv- 
able magnitudes  of  the  physical  imiverse  —  what  but  the  "murmur 
of  gnats  in  the  gloom,  or  a  moment's  anger  of  bees  in  their  hive  "? 
In  the  last  line  the  poet  gives  us  his  key  to  the  mystery.  There  is 
a  deathless  love,  —  there  is  an  immortal  future.  That  undying 
love  overleaps  the  oblivion  of  time,  and  in  presence  of  such  a 
spiritual  act  creation's  vastness  drops  out  of  view,  and  no  longer 
dismays  a  spirit  that  can  cherish  an  immortal  love,  and  can  come 
into  communion  with  a  divine  life.  "The  dead  are  not  dead, 
but  live."  lie  appeals  from  the  ignoble  present  to  the  great 
spiritual  sequel.  j, 

Such  is  the  poet's  solution  of  the  mysterious  puzzle  of  existence. 
This  is  his  "bunch  of  heal-all."  There  must  be  an  immortal 
future,  else  all  is  meaningless  confusion,  "  if  we  all  of  us  end  but 
in  being  our  own  corpse-colHns  at  last."     The  greatness  of  man 


ArrENDlA'. 


133 


forbids  the  idea  that  the  grave  ends  all.  To  many  minds  the 
thought  brings  hope  and  comfort,  while  others,  no  doubt,  will  fail  to 
feel  the  force  of  this  adjournment  of  the  enigma  to  another  scene 
of  being.  Tennyson  has  previously  offered  very  much  the  same 
solution  in  his  "  In  Memoriam"  :  — 


"  Man,  her  last  work,  who  seemed  so  fair, 
Such  splendid  jjurpose  in  his  eyes. 
Who  rolled  the  psalm  to  wintry  skies, 
Who  built  him  fanes  of  fruitless  prayer, 

"  Who  trusted  God  was  love  indeed. 
And  love  Creation's  final  law, 
Though  nature,  red  in  tooth  and  claw. 
With  ravine,  shrieked  against  his  creed,  - 

"  Who  loved,  who  suffered  countless  ills, 
Who  battled  for  the  true,  the  just, 
Be  blown  about  the  desert  dust, 
Or  sci'led  within  the  iron  hills? 

"  No  more?    A  monster,  then,  a  dream, 
A  discord.     Dragons  of  the  prime. 
That  tear  each  other  in  their  slime. 
Were  mellow  music  matched  with  him. 

O  life  as  futile  then  as  frail ! 

Oh,  for  thy  voice  to  soothe  and  bless  ! 

What  hope  of  answer  or  redress  } 
Behind  the  veil,  behind  the  veil. 


"  Oh,  yet  we  trust  that  somehow  good 
Will  be  the  final  goal  of  ill. 
To  pangs  of  nature,  sins  of  will, 
Defects  of  doubt  and  taints  of  blood ; 

"  That  nothing  walks  with  aimless  feet; 
That  not  one  life  shall  be  destroyed, 
Or  cast  as  rubbish  to  the  void. 
When  God  hath  made  the  pile  complete. 


"  The  wish,  that  of  the  living  whole. 

No  life  may  fail  beyond  the  grave,  — 
Derives  it  not  from  what  we  have 
The  likest  God  within  the  soul? 


J  34 


WHERE  ARE    WE  AND    WHITHER    TENDING  t 


"  Are  God  and  Nature  then  at  strife, 

That  Nature  lends  such  evil  dreams? 
So  careful  of  the  type  she  seems, 
So  careless  of  the  single  life ; 

'*  That  I,  considering  everywhere 
Her  secr^    meaning  in  her  deeds. 
And  finding  that  of  fifty  seeds 
She  of ^en  brings  but  one  to  bear ! 

"  I  falter  where  I  firmly  trod, 

And  falling  with  my  weight  of  cares 
Upon  the  great  world's  altar-stairs 
That  slope  through  darkness  up  to  God  : 

•'  I  stretch  lame  hands  of  faith,  and  grope 
And  gather  dust  and  chaff",  and  call 
To  what  I  feel  is  Lord  of  ail. 
And  faintly  trust  the  larger  hope." 


PRESS   NOT  WES. 


By  the  Same  Author. 


NEWFOU  N  DLAND, 

THE  OLDEST  BRITISH  COLONY. 

Boston:  Doyle  &  Whittle.    1884.     450  pages.     Price,  $2.50. 
Map  and  Illustrations. 


OPINIONS    OF    THE    PRESS. 

(From,  the  Atlantic  Monthly.) 

An  interostinjj  work  by  a  painstaliing  stuilent,  wlio  sets  about  a  thorough 
eprescntation  of  the  oountrv. 


{From  the  New  York  ITerald.) 
The  best  account  of  Newfoundland  ever  printed. 

{From  the  New  York  Evening  Post.) 

The  book  is  indeed  good  and  interesting,  and  well-written,  but  is  without 
the  smallest  bit  of  imagination  or  fancy  to  mislead  the  reader.  It  is  no  Sir 
John  Mandeville's  tale  of  things  seen  golden-purplish  and  out  of  shape 
tlirough  an  ill-fitted  spy-glass.  Ic  has  in  it  all  the  earnestness  of  convietion 
and  of  faith  in  the  liolding  of  strong  facts.  The  book  does  not  make  the 
strangeness  of  the  story.  Tlie  book  only  jjuts  the  case  to  the  world  of 
readers  in  a  plain,  unvarnished  way,  in  good  English,  and  with  good  sense, 
and  proves  it  and  makes  it  clear  by  ample  testimony  and  figures. 

{From  the  Republic,  Boston.) 

The  historical  part  of  tbo  work  has  been  not  only  well  done,  but  is  highly 
creditable  for  its  bry^ad,  liberal,  and  comprehensive  grasp  of  religious  and 
political  events,  in  which  the  temptations  to  l)ecome  partisan  have  been  admi- 
rably avoided.  ...  As  a  book  of  reference,  "  Newfoundland  "  will  be 
found  simply  invaluable.  It  is  i)rofusely  and  cai)itally  illustrated,  elegantly 
printed,  and  neatly  and  serviceably  bound. 

{From  the  Wheelman.) 
It  is,  we  must  confess,  one  of  the  most  fascinating  histories  we  ever  read. 

{From  the  Boston  Transcript.) 

There  is  a  fine  unity  in  the  work;  it  reveals  no  awkward  seams,  and  the 
whole  is  absorbingly  interesting. 

{From  the  Boston  Saturday  Evening  Gazette.) 

It  is  the  most  important  work  hitherto  published  about  Newfoundland.  The 
materials  have  been  gathered  for  the  most  part  on  the  spot,  and  every  pub- 
lication dealing  with  the  subject  has  been  carefully  studied  and  utilized, 
togetber  with  all  public  records  and  other  documeuis. 


PRESS  NOTICES. 


(From  the  Boston  Post.) 

It  is  the  only  thorough,  comprehensive,  and  reliable  work  upon  the  great 
island  that  has  ever  been  published. 

{From  the  Cincinnati  Gazette.) 
It  is  a  complete  and  very  creditable  work. 

{From  the  Boston  Pilot.) 

The  republication  of  the  book  in  this  country  is  timely,  and  we  bespeak  for 
it  a  hearty  recognition. 

{From  the  Toronto  Olobe.) 

It  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  additions  to  the  literature  of  the  British 
colonies  which  has  ever  appeared.  The  llev,  Mr.  Harvey  is  a  recognized 
authority  on  all  matters  connected  witli  Newfoundland.  He  has  resided  there 
for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  no  man  living  is  more  intimately 
acquainted  with  its  history,  resources,  and  possibilities.  His  letters  to  the 
"  Globe,"  some  years  ago,  will  be  long  remembered.  They  were  a  revelation 
to  all  classes  in  the  community.  To  most  of  us  he  was,  in  a  very  real  sense, 
the  discoverer  of  Newfoundland.  The  book  has  already  attained  well- 
merited  popularity. 

{From  the  Montreal  Gazette.) 

The  Rev.  M.  Harvey,  having  been  for  many  years  our  Newfoundland  cor- 
respondent, will  require  but  few  words  of  introduction  from  ns.  His  letters 
to  tliis  journal  have  been  adn.ired  and  enjoyed  by  hundreds  of  readers,  as  well 
for  the  valuable  information  of  which  they  were  full,  as  for  the  clear  and 
systematic  manner  in  which  the  writer  dealt  with  all  objects  that  occupied  his 
attention.  We  are  simply  stating  the  truth  wlien  we  say,  that  there  is  no  one 
living  could  be  better  fitted  by  his  wide  and  intimate  knowledge  of  the  coun- 
try, its  people,  and  resources,  as  well  as  by  judgment,  taste,  and  ability  as  a 
writer,  to  contribute  to  a  work  of  this  kind  than  lie  is.  .  .  .  The  liistory 
is  an  exceedingly  well-told  story.  The  other  sections  of  the  work  are  of  no 
less  interest.  No  one  who  desires  to  know  the  truth  about  Newfoundland, 
its  capabilities  and  prospects,  should  fail  to  secure  a  copy. 

{From  the  Quebec  Morning  Chronicle.) 

It  is  one  of  the  most  instructive  and  interesting  books  that  the  press  of 
England  has  given  us  for  a  long  time.  ...  It  will  do  for  Newfoundland 
what  Wallace's  "Russia"  has  done  for  that  vast  empire,  and  what  Dent's 
"  Last  Forty  Years  "  has  done  for  Canada.  Every  chapter  reveals  a  monument 
of  labor  on  tlie  part  of  the  author.  No  pains  have  been  spared,  evidently,  to 
secure  accuracy  in  every  detail.  We  can  cordially  commend  this  valuable 
book  to  our  readers. 

{From  the  Halifax  Morning  Chronicle.) 

The  whole  work  is  as  interesting  as  a  novel,  and  all  who  wish  to  become 
conversant  with  "  Ye  Antient  Colonye  "  of  Newfoundland  should  possess 
themselves  of  a  copy  of  this  able  and  instructive  work,  of  which  the  above  is 
but  an  imperfect  and  meagre  description. 

{From  the  Newfoundlander.) 

It  is  no  disparagement  of  the  Labors  of  earlier  authorities  to  say  that,  in 
point  of  general  usefulness  at  the  present  day,  they  are  quite  surpassed  by 
the  volume  now  before  us.  .  .  .  It  comes  out  at  a  most  opportune  period ; 
and  all  who  seek  to  form  just  opinions  of  the  past,  present,  and  future  of 
the  colony  should  possess  a  volume,  which  is  not  less  inviting  in  its  external 
get-up,  than  in  the  literary  impress  stamped  upon  its  pages. 


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